Yugi In Space!
by SirLarry
Summary: (Rateing may change) See what happens when Yugioh gets lost in space with Seto Kaiba, Mokuba, Joey, Serenity, Tea, Mai, Tristan, Bakura, Rebecca, Duke, and Pegasus. Visit far way planets and long lost galaxies with Yugi in space.
1. Prologue

Okay so I don't own Yu-go-oh, or Lost in Space, or Star Trek, or any of the shows that I ripped off to come up with this story. When the judge asks me why I did, well…I did it for the people. FIGHT THE POWER!  
  
Yu-gi-oh in space.  
  
Prologue.  
  
It was the middle of the night when Seto Kaiba and his little brother Mokuba felt the call. It came to them like a bolt of lightning, which filled their souls with terror. A dream that they had both had of their world in flames and there was nothing that could be done about it. Kiaba called to his Millennium Rod and it came to his hand.  
  
"Show me this thing that I have seen." He commanded and once again the terrible vision appeared before him. The world was on fire and there was no light from the sun which could break through the cloud of dust and smoke which enveloped the entire planet. The air was chocked and the world was dieing. "MOKUBA!" He cried and his brother came running to him.  
  
"Seto, I just had the worst dream." His little brother told him.  
  
"It was no dream Mokuba, the world is going to end in four weeks. We have only a short amount of time to prepare." Kaiba told him.  
  
"Prepare? For what?" Mokuba asked.  
  
"To leave this planet. Mokuba we have to build a fleet of shuttles to save our company from DOOMSDAY." 


	2. Chapter One

Chapter One.  
  
Countdown: one week, one day, seven hours, fifteen minutes, three seconds.  
  
Yugi and his friends were gathered around the television watching the latest news reports of the Kaiba Corp's new business venture.  
  
"And topping the news at this hour, Kaiba corp's test shuttle, "The Blue Eyes One," is lifting off with it's new deep space probe on board. We've really seen a rushed job here from Kaiba Corp. as it has begun to rapidly catch up with over fifty years of space technology development." The Anchor man said.  
  
"What's really impressive is that they've caught up in just under three weeks." Commented an Anchor Woman sitting at her desk. "We've really seen some great technological advancements come out of Kaiba Corp. in the last few years since it's changed from Military Technology to Gaming and commercial products. Now it seems the company under the leadership of Seto Kaiba is taking a turn towards the Air/Space field."  
  
"Wow guys," Tea said, "Sounds like Kaiba's turned into a real space case."  
  
"Yeah, well he's always been a total nerd when it come to that high tech stuff." Joey said picking at his ear. "You know my sister's still totally taken with him. I can't understand why though, I mean the only thing he's got going for him is his money and my sister's no gold digger."  
  
"Yeah, but maybe she just genuinely likes Kaiba." Yugi said turning around. "He's a pretty cool guy when you think about it. Could any of you guys have built a space ship in less than three weeks?" He asked them. Joey just shrugged and Tristan clamed up. "Well I think all this stuff is pretty cool." Yugi turned back to the news and left his friends to their own devices. If they couldn't recognize how great all this space exploration stuff was then it was their loss.  
  
--------Scene Break---------  
  
"This is wonderful Seto." Serenity Wheeler said looking up at the monitor from Cape Kaiba mission control, an artificial island built out in the harbor from which, Seto Kaiba could over see every aspect of his company's new space program.  
  
"It's the power of technology, my dear." Kaiba told her as he watched the monitor closely. Everything had to go exactly according to plan if his escape from earth was to be successful. Building a fully operational command and control center out on the ocean and simultaneously constructing a secret fleet of space ships was the difficult part. It required more money and recourses than even he had at his disposal.  
  
"Well, well, well Kiaba boy, looks as if we've had a successful launch." Said Kaiba's new business partner. This was an unholy alliance if there ever was one.  
  
"Pegasus, try to not to be too surprised. Nothing can match the power of my technology." Kaiba bragged.  
  
"Oh I'm so sure. And what about our other projects?" Pegasus asked his young counterpart.  
  
"We'll have a fully operational space fleet within the deadline. Just be sure that you're ready for the primary launch date." Kaiba reassured him.  
  
"Wow, our own fleet of space ships." Mokuba dreamily said. "Won't that be so cool Serenity?"  
  
"Sure will, promise that you guys will name one after me." Serenity pleaded.  
  
"Sure thing babe, yours will be the next one commissioned." Kaiba promised her as he put his arm around her and grabbed her butt.  
  
"Ah, young love." Pegasus commented. "I think I'll name one of my ships after my departed wife."  
  
"Do as you wish with your half of the fleet." Kaiba said. "Just don't forget to fork over the money for them."  
  
---------Scene Break-------  
  
"So Tea, you spending the night with Yugi again?" Joey asked her as the evening began to wind down.  
  
"You're going to see Mai tonight aren't you?" Tea asked.  
  
"Sure am." He bragged. Yugi returned to the living room with some more sodas which Tirstan and Joey drank quickly before leaving. They didn't want to hang around too long and ruin Yugi and Tea's romantic evening together. "See you tomorrow Yuge. " Joey said and threw up his hand at the door.  
  
"Bye guys, see you tomorrow at school." Yugi replied and that was it. He and Tea were completely alone. "So what do you want to do now?" He asked her as they went back into the living room. Tea smiled at Yugi's seductively.  
  
"Let's go up stairs to your room." She told him and took his hand. Yugi smiled with glee and they both went upstairs to Yugi's room where they undressed each other and made love.  
  
--------Scene break-------  
  
"Oh Kaiba boy, what about the crews?" Pegasus asked as he turned to leave the control room.  
  
"What about the crew members?" Kaiba asked.  
  
"I can still pick my own crewmen to man my half of the fleet can't I?" Pegasus had something up his sleeve, what Kaiba had to no idea, but he was sure that it was something underhanded.  
  
"Oh course." He answered.  
  
"Good then I'll leave you alone to continue monitoring the test shuttle." Pegasus said then he left Cape Kaiba in his private helicopter for his own corporate headquarters where most of his part of the operation was being coordinated. "Oh Croquet, get my old friend Yugi boy on the phone." He asked his assistant.  
  
"Young Yugi Mouto may not be available this hour sir. Shall I try him in the morning?" Croquet asked.  
  
"I want Little Yugi and his friends to meet me tonight, so please get him on the line, I have precious little time to make my own arrangements for next month." Pegasus said sitting down behind his desk.  
  
"Very well sir." Croquet said then bowed. Maximillion Pegasus did not like to be let down and even without his Millennium eye, he was quite a force to be dealt with. Croquet went out to his own officer on the other side of the lobby and made the call to Yugi house.  
  
---------Scene break----------  
  
Tea and Yugi's were fast asleep when the phone beside the bed began to ring. At first the two lovers ignored it but after ringing several more times, Yugi finally had to answer.  
  
"Hello, this better be good." He said  
  
"Mr. Yugi Mouto, this is Croquet of Mr. Pegasus' office at…"  
  
"I know who he is." Yugi said, "Do you have any idea what time it is?"  
  
"Very sorry to disturb you sir, I have urgent business to discuss with you though." Croquet explained. "Mr. Pegasus wants to make an appointment to see you at your earliest convenience."  
  
"An appointment to see me?" Yugi asked. "That's not necessary Croquet, I've always got time for Pegasus. After all he did help us out when we were facing Anubis. He's like an old friend now."  
  
"Glad to hear it Yugi boy," Came another voice on the line. "I've missed you oh so much."  
  
"Uh, hello Pegasus, what's up?" Yugi asked.  
  
"I was just wondering if maybe you and your friends would like to make another trip out to Duelist Kingdom this weekend? I've got something that I absolutely must share with you." Pegasus hinted.  
  
"Really, what is it?" Yugi asked excited. "Is it a new Duel Monsters card, or maybe another Tournament in the works?"  
  
"Now, now, I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise. Just gather all your friends and their families together this weekend and bring them out to your place this weekend. Make sure they all pack enough clothes to last them a couple of days because this is going to be a long weekend." Pegasus told little Yugi.  
  
"A long weekend. Okay, that sounds great, I'll bring everyone I can. Oh, do we bring our duel disks and decks?" He asked.  
  
"Sure thing Yugi boy, don't want to forget those. I'll be unavailing my big surprise after a grand ball, dinner party, and splendid celebration."  
  
"Celebrating what?" Yugi asked.  
  
"You'll find out." Pegasus was being awfully secretive about all this but it all sounded like it was on the up and up. After all, what could Pegasus possibly have against them now? After Yugi hung up the phone he laid down next to Tea and told her all about his strange conversation. She had to agree that it all sounded a little too good to be true but that they had all better go since it was an invitation for their entire families and Tea was never one to turn down an invitation from anyone of her many friends.  
  
--------Scene break--------  
  
When morning came Yugi set to work on rounding up his numerous friends to tell them about Pegasus's grand celebration. He and Tea went around telling everyone. Joey and Serenity Wheeler, Tristan, Duke Devlin, Ryou Bakura, Rebecca Hawkins, Mai Valentine, and all their families. Needless to say they were all surprised to hear that their old adversary turned friend was having them all over again. After all they had heard that Pegasus wasn't dueling anymore.  
  
"Why would he want to come to Duelist Kingdom?" Rebecca asked Yugi as they sat on the fence outside of the Domino Museum together. "I mean he's never even met me."  
  
"I don't know but he's invited you so you should come." Yugi said to her.  
  
"I'll come for you." Rebecca told him, leaning over to take his hand but Yugi pulled away.  
  
"Rebecca, you know I'm with Tea right now. I just don't feel the same way about you that you feel for me." He told her. The young girl hung her head.  
  
"I know you don't right now, but maybe one day, I mean I have to keep hoping Yugi." Rebecca said sadly.  
  
"Hope is a good thing." Yugi agreed. "Who knows." He got up then and started down the street. There was still one more person he had to invite. Yugi went all the way down town to Kaiba corp. headquarters to see someone who he considered a good friend though the feeling was definitely not mutual.  
  
"Let me get this straight, you came here to invite me to be your guest at one of Pegasus's meaningless little balls?" Kaiba asked when Yugi finally got in to see him.  
  
"Well, you, and of course Mokuba. I've already invited Serenity and Joey. They seemed pretty psyched about going so I thought that maybe you would like to come too."  
  
"Yugi, I have no need to participate in meaningless activities such as parties, and balls, and frivolous wastes of time. I am a business man with a lot on my mind. I don't have time for your meaningless friendship." Yugi couldn't pretend that he wasn't hurt by Kaiba's words. He just shook his head though and turned around to leave the office. But before he was completely out of the door, he had one more thing to say to Kaiba.  
  
"If you change your mind, we'd be glad to have you." He said then closed the door behind him. Kaiba sat at his desk with his hands clasped together thinking of what possible reason Pegasus could have to throwing a party on the eve of their departure. He decided he'd just better get from the horse's mouth. He turned to his private video phone and called Pegasus up.  
  
"What do you think you're doing?" He demanded once he had Pegasus on the line.  
  
"Hello there Kaiba boy, what is it exactly that I'm doing that you don't like?" Pegasus asked.  
  
"This ball you're having the night before we leave." Kaiba answered. "Why are you inviting my worse enemy and my girlfriend to the same place? I don't want Serenity left behind. She's destined to give birth to a new dynasty of Kaiba Corp. Princes once we reach the new world."  
  
"Oh you're worried about pretty little Serenity Wheeler. That's commendable Kaiba, but you don't have to worry, I'll have your blushing bride to be at church on time come Monday morning. You see I plan on freezing her in suspended animation along with Yugi and the others. That way when the end comes, they won't feel a thing."  
  
"You're being way too kind." Kaiba said. "Why the elaborate ball?"  
  
"Oh you know the old saying. Eat, drink, and be marry for tomorrow we die. Right Kaiba boy. I just want to show these kids a good time before they die a horrible death in the flames of the approaching asteroid. You should consider doing the same for those of your company that you're going to be leaving behind. Oh that's right, you're taking all of your loved ones with you. The best of the best, of the best minds in your company to populate a world ruled by you and your brother."  
  
"Like that isn't your plan?" Kaiba asked Pegasus  
  
"I only want to survive." He replied "I don't care about ownership of a planet or about saving the human race from extinction. I only care about myself." Pegasus said.  
  
"If that were true then you wouldn't be doing all this for Yugi and his friends." Kaiba challenged.  
  
"Well I'm not heartless after all. Don't worry about a thing, this is coming out of my pockets, not yours, Kaiba boy. I can do as I please so long as it doesn't jeopardize our chances of escaping this miserable, doomed world." Kaiba had a funny feeling about all this but he couldn't very well do anything about it. Pegasus was right, he could do as he pleased with his own money, and his own time. He just hoped that things wouldn't get too out of hand or else they might have to scrub the launch and that would be catastrophic. 


	3. Chapter Two

Chapter Two.  
Count Down: Two Days, Nine hours, Forty five minutes, twelve seconds.  
  
Yugi and his friends and their families arrived in Duelist Kingdom on schedule that weekend on Saturday morning. Maximillion Pegasus was there at the hello pad to meet them and he put on a spectacular event. Pegasus, Yugi, Tea, Tristan, Joey, Ryou and Mai were all taken in open cars down the only street on the island to the castle in victory parade style. Pegasus had spared no expense and it could be seen on the faces of his company employees whom he'd had fallen out to throw flowers, candies, and wreaths at the passing cars while everyone else rode in a bus all the way to the castle. Once they were there, they were ushered inside by beautiful young girls clad scantly in short dresses and deep cut tops.  
  
"Ho, ho, this absolutely amazing." Yugi's Grandfather said as one young girl put a wreath of flowers around his head and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Yugi, I wish that you'd told me that you were so beloved by Mr. Pegasus."  
  
"I didn't know myself." Yugi said as two girls crowded around him and led him away down the hallway. Naturally, Tea was outraged at this sort of behavior but then she saw the hunky guys in short pants and bowties who were passing out drinks.  
  
"Maybe this isn't so bad after all." She said taking a mint tea.  
  
"I'll say." Rebecca agreed as she took a virgin bloody marry and slapped one of the waiters on the rump.  
  
-------Scene Break-------  
  
Kaiba was making his final preparations for the launch the next day. First he filed a flight plan with the Japanese government to launch a fleet of "test rockets" into high orbit. He assured the government that all twelve of the "test rockets" would land safely in the ocean. He neglected to inform the government, however, that simultaneously, eleven more rockets would taking off from Duelist Kingdom. Then he began loading his cargo onto the shuttles. First they would need food, water, tents, recyclable containers, and construction equipment. Next he assigned living spaces to his most trusted and highly prized employees. He picked only the smartest, strongest, and most physically fit of them, and their families.  
  
"Seto, don't you think we should tell the government what we know?" Mokuba asked as they oversaw the loading of the shuttles. Vehicles upon vehicles filled to the brim with supplies and personal belongings were being loaded into the cargo holds of the long, white, ships.  
  
"Mokuba this is the end of the world. They can't stop it so it's meaningless to give them any warning. Besides, if the governments of the world found out about our plans then they would use these shuttles to save themselves instead of trying to preserve human seed for future generations." Kaiba told his little brother. "This is the most selfless act we can do for our country and for our planet. Be proud Mokuba, for one day we'll be hailed as the saviors of the human race."  
  
"What about Yugi and the others?" Mokuba asked. To this Kaiba gave no answer. He just stood there and looked out the window at his grand scheme taking shape. Tomorrow they would begin loading passengers and then after midnight they would take off for outer space and the unknown.  
  
---------Scene break--------  
  
Yugi and his family and friends were treated like Kings at Duelist Kingdom and Pegasus threw a fantastic party and grand ball for them. They ate, the danced, and made marry the whole evening long and into the night. Yugi and Tea danced every dance together and then they went out onto the balcony to get some air while the others traded up partners for the next dance.  
  
"Yugi this is amazing." Tea said looking up at the bright night sky. "Who could ever have thought that we'd be back here celebrating after all that we'd went through?"  
  
"I know what you mean, it's kind of strange, but I couldn't think of a better time of place." Yugi said reaching into his pocket. He'd been waiting for over a year to do this, but the right time just never came along. Now seemed like the perfect time though. They were all alone, the night air was warm, and he was sure about both their feelings. "Tea." Yugi said dropping to one knee. Tea looked at him kind of strangely then a look of shock sprang to her face when she looked down and saw the diamond chip ring that Yugi held out before her.  
  
"Oh my gosh, Yugi, is this for real?" She asked getting down on her knees with him.  
  
"It sure is. I want you to marry me Tea, just as soon as we get out of high school."  
  
"Oh wow." Tea said taking the ring and slipping it onto her finger. It was a perfect fit and as soon as it was on, Tea knew that she never wanted to take it off. "Yugi, I love you." She said to him and put her arms around his neck.  
  
"I love you too Tea." He said, they kissed, and then got back up. "Let's go make our announcement to the others."  
  
"Sure thing." Tea said happily. She couldn't think of a better time or place to make such a wonderful announcement as this one. They were getting married. It was just so fantastic that Tea could not even believe that it was real. She kept looking down at her ring and playing with it to make sure that it wasn't just some trinket that would slip off her hand when she woke up the next morning and disappear into the realm of fantasy. How could anything be this wonderful?  
  
"Excuse me everyone." Yugi said banging on a glass with his dinner fork. "We've got an announcement to make!" The entire room fell silent and every eye turned toward Tea and Yugi.  
  
"We'd like announce to everyone that we're getting married next year after graduation!" Tea shouted then put her arms around little Yugi. The entire room erupted in loud cheers, clapping, and well wishes for the couple. Everyone was excited to hear this news. Everyone, that is, except for Rebecca. She stood in the back and sniffled for a moment then she ran out of the ballroom up the stairs, and into her bedroom where she cried her eyes out on her pillow.  
  
"Blasted Tea!" She cried out. "Blasted Duelist Kingdom! She was more angry than she was sad. She was angry at everything that she just lost it. She blamed the place they were in for this terrible news that Yugi would be marring Tea instead of her. Rebecca blamed Maximillion Pegasus for bringing them all here so that Yugi could propose. She was so angry at the entire idea of this ball that she went to the window and cast her Duel Monsters cards out into the sea. They all floated down and to the waves and were taken away. "I vow I'll never play duel monsters again!" She cried. Just then though there was a nock at the door.  
  
"Excuse me miss." Came a voice. It was Maximillion Pegasus himself.  
  
"What do you want?" Rebecca demanded.  
  
"To see if there's anything that I can do for you." Pegasus replied. Rebecca wiped her tears away then sniffled a little.  
  
"Come in." She said, not knowing what else to do. I mean she could have told him to go away but this was his home that she was staying in. Pegasus must have known that she would feel this way because when Rebecca opened the door she was surprised to find him holding a tray with two drinks and a flower on it.  
  
"Dear Rebecca, what troubles you so?" Pegasus asked her when he came into the room. "Surely it can not be the happy news that Tea and Little Yugi will be wed next year?"  
  
"It's not fare." Rebecca said as she sat down on the bed. "Yugi should have asked me to marry him." Pegasus smiled and sat down with her. He put the tray of drinks on the bedside table and handed Rebecca the flower.  
  
"Now Rebecca, you may be a smart girl and you may already be in college but you have to understand that you're too young to fall in love the way you're talking about." He told her. "Yugi may look like he's your age but he's a lot older than you and he's much more interested in girls his own age. Girls like Tea whom he's fallen madly in love with. I can remember that tender young age when I first fell in love. I knew that it was meant to be and so I did everything within my power to make things happen the way I wanted them. It didn't work out the way I wanted them to though. I'm sure you know about my wife's passing."  
  
"You were married?" Rebecca asked.  
  
"Yes, to a lovely young woman whom I loved very dearly. The problem was that it wasn't meant to be. She died and I have never been able to find my way back from her death. I made my wife my whole world and then my world was taken from me. That's why I…" He stopped there.  
  
"That's why you what?" Rebecca asked.  
  
"That's why I…invented Duel Monsters. To make people like you happy. Children around the world look up to me and I do it because I have no children of my own. Now here, drink this, and be happy for Yugi. If you truly love him the way you say you do then you'll drink to his and Tea's happiness." Pegasus handed her a drink from the tray he'd brought in. It was a nice cool, refreshing grapefruit juice and lime. Rebecca raised her glass and so did Pegasus. They toasted Yugi and Tea then they both downed their drinks. "Feel better?" He asked.  
  
"I do kind of feel a little better." Rebecca said then she noticed that she was starting to get a little tired. "What's happening?" She asked.  
  
"Just lay down and get some rest my dear, don't worry." Pegasus said. Before Rebecca could argue she was asleep or unconscious I should say. She doubled over into Pegasus' arms and he laid her back on the bed.  
  
"Oh Croquet!" He called down the hallway. Croquet came running and when he saw the girl on the bed he came to attention. "Take miss Hawkins to the chamber and have her placed in suspended animation." Pegasus ordered.  
  
"Yes sir." Croquet replied. "What about the others, they're all out cold in the ballroom."  
  
"Have them taken to the chamber as well. I want all their personal belongings and duel monsters cards packed up and sent with them on their short trip down to the launch bay."  
  
"You intend to take them with us?" Croquet asked. "But I thought that…"  
  
"You thought wrong. I have to save Yugi and as many of his friends and family as can be saved. I won't leave them here to die." Pegasus stated. "They've done so much for me. They're the ones who freed me from the curse of my Millennium eye. They above all other human beings on the face of this earth deserve to live. Besides, I can't just very well allow true love like Tea's and Yugi's to go unrequited. They have to live and be married and experience all the wonder and bliss of being together for the rest of their lives."  
  
"Um…Yes sir." Croquet replied. He was more than a little confused but then again when working for Maximillion Pegasus that was quite normal. He took Rebecca with him down the secret chamber where the rest of the staff were loading the others into the suspended animation pods. There they would sleep until the ships were safely away from earth.  
  
---------Scene Break----------  
  
The sun rose early it seemed when the next morning dawned over Kaiba Corp. headquarters. Seto Kaiba hadn't slept much that night. He'd been too busy preparing for his epic journey into the dark void of space. Neither had his little brother Mokuba gotten any sleep. He'd spent his night worrying about his friends Yugi, Tea, Joey, and Tristan. They were going to be left behind to die on the earth when the asteroid hit. How could his big brother be so heartless as to leave them all there to die. Oh that's right, he wasn't leaving them all. He was taking Serenity Wheeler with him.  
  
"How can he do this?" Mokuba asked. "He's just leaving them here to die." He hung his head and cried the whole morning long. He cried at breakfast, on the way to the launch pad, and even as they were being suited up for space flight.  
  
"Mokuba stop that." Kaiba told his brother finally, after he'd had enough of his brother's babyish behavior. "I wouldn't be practical to bring anyone other than Serenity." He tried to tell Mokuba. "Speaking of which, is she here yet?" Kaiba asked his technicians.  
  
"She arrived last night from Duelist Kingdom." The Flight Coordinator answered. "We're ready for you and Mr. Mokuba to board now sir. We hope that you'll have a safe flight." The ground crew manning Cape Kaiba Mission Control had no idea of the impending doom. They only knew that it was their employer's will to go into space. When Seto Kaiba's will was made known they preformed whatever task he set before them.  
  
"Mokuba, let's go." Kaiba said then he and his brother got into the elevator and wend down three levels to the underground launch pad where only those with alpha level security passes could get to. There were eleven more just like it all around the island and each one was bustling now with passengers hurrying to get aboard. Their final few moments on earth were very panicky ones. People rushed and crowded to get into the space ships where they had been assigned.  
  
-------Scene Break--------  
  
"Everything is ready Mr. Pegasus sir." Croquet said as he took his seat next to his master.  
  
"You delivered Miss Wheeler to Cape Kaiba last night?" Pegasus asked.  
  
"Yes sir." Croquet replied.  
  
"And Little Yugi is safe and sound with his friends in the cargo hold?" He asked.  
  
"Yes sir." Croquet replied.  
  
"Good then, let's prepare to blast off!" Pegasus exclaimed and grabbed hold of his seat. He was ready and so were everyone else in his half of the fleet. Now it was all up to Seto Kaiba.  
  
-------Scene Break-------  
  
Kaiba sat on the bridge of his command ship and looked out the forward view screen at the bright blue sky above them.  
  
"Count to blast off." He commanded.  
  
"Counting down." Replied Mission control. "Blast off in five, four, three, two, one. Engines go." The engines beneath them roared to life as a spectacular burst of fire, smoke, and debris flew up from beneath the ship and it slowly began to lift off from out of it's bunker. The Earth rumbled and seas shook as Cape Kaiba opened it's other underground bunkers up and more rockets roared to life. The launch shook the Control Center and rocked the small man made island like a toy boat in the bath tub.  
  
Across the ocean another secret launch site began it's count down to launch. Pegasus One and it's fleet took off almost as the exact same time as Blue Eyes Two and it's fleet did. The 23 ships all bound for the outer reaches of the galaxy pulled away from the earth's gravitational pull and broke away freely into space.  
  
"Prepare for first stage separation." Kaiba commanded.  
  
"Separating stage one rocket in five, four, three, two, one. Stage one rocket disengaged." Mission Control relayed. The ships all dropped their rear booster tanks and rockets which all began to fall back to earth while the fleet deployed their new sub-light speed engines and thrusters. "Sub-light test one ready to go." Blue Eyes Two ready for sub light launch."  
  
"Excellent." Kaiba relayed back. "We're ready up here. Engage sub-light engines." He commanded.  
  
"Hello Kaiba boy." Came that nauseating voice over the radio.  
  
"Pegasus, is there a problem with your engines?" Kaiba asked him not so much with concern as wishful thinking.  
  
"Sorry to disappoint you, but yes, they are working. The reason I called is that I wanted you to know that I'll be waking the rest of my crew up any moment."  
  
"Waking the rest of your crew? What are you talking about?" Kaiba demanded.  
  
"I mean that I'm going to waking up some old friends of ours. After all, I can't run this big ship on my own it's the size of a whale and doesn't at all have a becoming shape to it. A Dragon for goodness sake, Kaiba boy don't you have anything on your mind besides dragons?"  
  
"Pegasus, you brought Yugi and his friends didn't you!" Kaiba yelled over the radio.  
  
"Right again there Kaiba boy. Well, it's been nice chatting with you but we've got a lot of hard work to do over hear if we're going to make it to the new world safely."  
  
"Pegasus!!!" Kaiba cried out all the way past the moon and deep into the solar system. 


	4. Chapter Three

--------Author's Note--------  
  
I know that this has been a bit far fetched so far but give it a little time and see how you like the story when we get to the dueling on alien worlds, Mokuba's first love, and other way out scenarios that take place when Yugi Mouto becomes lost in space.  
  
Chapter Three.  
  
Yugi awoke from suspended animation just as the fleet was passing by the planet Pluto. At first he didn't understand what was going on. The way he saw it, a moment ago he was standing in the ballroom at Duelist Kingdom celebrating his and Tea's engagement when all of a sudden he began to feel dizzy.  
  
"Where am I?" He asked groggily.  
  
"Don't speak Yugi." Pegasus said leaning down over him in a cap and gown. When Yugi saw this he jumped.  
  
"AHHH!!!" He cried out. "You, you tricked me again Pegasus, you're trying to do experiments on me now aren't you?!" Yugi was totally freaked out. "And Tea, where is she?" He demanded as he squirmed out of his bed.  
  
"Don't worry Yugi, everything's fine, I'm right here." Tea said from across the room. Yugi looked and saw her waving at him from her own bed. She was wearing a hospital gown and her hair was wet. "I think something bad happened Yugi." She told him, "We're not in Duelist Kingdom anymore."  
  
"Not in Duelist Kingdome, then where are we?" Yugi demanded to know from Pegasus.  
  
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you so just look out the window." Yugi turned his head and looked out, at first thinking it was night out, but then he realized that the stars outside were moving.  
  
"AHHH!!! We're in outer space!" He exclaimed.  
  
-------Scene Break--------  
  
"Yugi survived." Seto Kaiba said to himself as he watched the satellite photos of the Earth's destruction. There was almost no emotion in his expression as he viewed the pictures sent up from where the Asteroid had hit the planet just as it had in his dream. Now the world was on fire, smoke, and volcanic ash were enveloping the atmosphere. All over the globe natural disasters were occurring because of the asteroids impact on the Western Coast of North America. A gigantic wave had swallowed up the Pacific islands, including Japan, and volcanoes all over the world were erupting. The Planet earth was dieing and there was no way for those left behind to escape.  
  
Even the space proficient nations could not launch their ships in time to get through the planet's super heated atmosphere. Their shuttles and rockets all burned up from the heat created by the impact of the asteroid. It was all happening just as Seto Kaiba had foreseen.  
  
"That's it isn't it big brother?" Mokuba asked as he sat in his chair near the radio console. "All that's left of the human race are the those people we brought with us."  
  
"Yes Mokuba." We are all that is left of the human race and now we must search out a world to call home." His demeanor was just as it ever was. Calm, cool, and collected. He wasn't phased by this horrific tragedy at all.  
  
"Good riddance." Said Weevil Underwood from his station at navigation. "Once the planet cools again, there will nothing left but insects and then they will rule the world."  
  
"Yeah, it was good enough for the dinosaurs to die this way so it's good enough for those fools who couldn't save themselves." Agreed Rex Raptor from his station at engineering.  
  
"It's a pity though, that Yugi Mouto had to go and sneak himself, and his friends off the planet with Pegasus. I would have enjoyed the end of the world a lot better if he'd been down there when it happened." Weevil began to snicker then be just out and out laughed. Mokuba was disgusted with them all. The thought of all those people burning alive down there was horrifying to him and in his space suit, with hic tinted visor pulled down, he cried for them.  
  
-------Scene Break-------  
  
Pegasus gathered Yugi and all his friends together in the infirmary and explained everything that had happened. He showed them the pictures being broadcast from earth and told them of his plan to save all their lives. Needless to say, they didn't take it well at all. In fact, most of them broke down, and some of them cried such tears of sorry as could not be believed. The world they had known and loved and protected was gone.  
  
"What about our families?" Tea asked.  
  
"They're all safely stowed away in the cargo hold in suspended animation for the long trip to the new world." Pegasus told her.  
  
"What about my sister, is she down there too?" Joey asked.  
  
"No, she's on Kaiba's ship." Pegasus informed Joey.  
  
"She's where?! How could you give her over to Kaiba?!" He demanded to know.  
  
"Because that was the agreement. I promised Kaiba that I would send Serenity to his ship as soon as you were all suspended in deep sleep. If I hadn't he would have come to get her himself and then he would have found out about the rest of you. Don't you understand, he was going to leave you all behind, including you Joey. Especially you Yugi. " This was quite disheartening news to them all, including Rebecca who didn't even know this Kaiba person that well. Why would he do that to her friends and family?  
  
"I hate Kaiba, he's terrible for doing this!" She cried and stamped her feet on the floor.  
  
"There there Rebecca." Ryou told her. "We're all safe and sound right here on this ship and we're not the only ones. Uh, are we?" He asked.  
  
"Of course not. I saved nearly all of my company's employees." Pegasus told them all. "And Kaiba picked only the smartest and the brightest of his company and their families to join him aboard his half of the space fleet. There are over twenty ships in our combined fleet and nearly all of them have people onboard who are frozen in suspended animation. When we reach the new world, we'll unthaw them just like we did with all of you."  
  
"New world?" Tristan asked.  
  
"What new world are we talking about?" Wondered Joey.  
  
"Why the new home world of the human race of course." Pegasus pulled out a star chart and hung it up on the board. "Kaiba's new deep space probe is at this very moment circling a planet so much like our old Earth that they could practically be twins. It's located in the Tri-lone system" He stuck a thumb tack into the spot of the chart were the planet was supposed to be. Yugi and his friends looked at it but were not totally convinced about it's prospects.  
  
"And when we get there, just what are we supposed to do for food, shelter, and shopping malls?" Tea wanted to know.  
  
"Why we'll build our own and we'll be the first humans ever to set foot on the planet's surface. We'll be making history. Future generations will hail us as adventurous pioneers who crossed the distant void of space to colonize a new world." Pegasus spun a good yarn, that was for sure, but when it all came right down to it; Yugi and his friends really didn't know what to make of it all. This was a total shock to them. They had just lost one planet and now Pegasus was talking about building a whole new civilization on another one. They had never even heard of this other planet before either. They didn't even know it's name.  
  
"This is all just a little bit much to take in." Yugi finally said. "I think that maybe we'd all feel better about this when we've had time to grieve for our old world."  
  
"I understand completely, it's hard leaving home, but this is ten million times worse." Pegasus agreed. "Here why don't I show you around the ship and then we'll see about getting you all settled into your bunks. We have a long journey ahead of us you know."  
  
"How long?" Duke asked.  
  
"At least a week's time once we make the conversion to light speed." Pegasus replied and then he led them all down the corridors to the ship's living compartments.  
  
--------Scene Break--------  
  
As the two lead ships flew parallel to one another, Kaiba festered in his bunk Yugi's survival meant that their long standing feud would go on for as long as they both were alive. He couldn't stand it. Now he thought about what this would mean for the great legacy he'd hoped to create. When they landed on the new world it would be Yugi whom everyone would turn to for leadership. He would be the one to blaze new trails, build mighty cities, and be worshiped forever as King of Games. No King of the what would have been Kaiba world, now it would be Yugi's world.  
  
"I can't let that happen!" He shouted from the top of his lungs. "Yugi, this ends now!" He got up then and went to the bridge of his ship. "Bring the Blue Eyes Two to a halt." Kaiba ordered.  
  
"But the rest of the fleet, they'll go right past us!" Weevil exclaimed.  
  
"Big brother, what are you doing?" Mokuba demanded to know.  
  
"I'm settling things with Yugi once and for all with a shadow game in deep space." Everyone on the bridge gasped.  
  
"But Seto, a Shadow Game? Those are dangerous, even more so out here, and there's nothing we can do for you if…" Mokuba couldn't say it.  
  
"Don't worry Mokuba, if anyone winds up floating away into the blackness of space, never to be heard from again, it will be Yugi."  
  
---------Scene Break---------  
  
"This is our ship's sleeping compartments." Pegasus pointed out to Yugi and his friends as they floated down the corridor. "There's room for over twenty people but thankfully we've only got a small crew. That's where you guys come in. I need your help in running this ship so that we can make it all the way to the Tri-lone system on schedule."  
  
"Just what do you need help with?" Tristan asked.  
  
"I don't have a full bridge or engineering crew." Pegasus informed them. "I had to put nearly everyone in suspended animation to make room for all of you. Don't worry though, I'm sure that you can more than pick up the slack. After all, Kaiba has Weevil Underwood and Rex Raptor on his crew."  
  
"Rex and Weevil are alive?!" Yugi exclaimed happily. "What about the Ishtar family, Ishezu, Maric, and Odeon?" he asked.  
  
"They're all in suspended animation aboard one of the other ships." Pegasus informed him. "I told you before that I had saved everyone I could. Now on with the tour. We've still got the galley and shower rooms to see." Just then though one of the bridge crew came floating down the corridor after them. It was Croquet and he had a worried look on his face.  
  
"Mister Pegasus, sir, we've got a problem." He said when he caught up to them.  
  
"What could it possibly be?" Pegasus asked. "Not a problem with the ship, I hope."  
  
"No sir, the ship is running a peak efficiency, but we've got a problem with the lead ship, the Blue Eyes Two. She's stalled and Mr. Kaiba is demanding that we stop too. Just long enough to render assistance." Croquet said.  
  
"Very well, return to the bridge and have us come to full stop. We'll have to make the transition to light speed after we help the Kaibas' ship out of their little mess." Pegasus said.  
  
The sub-light engines came to a stop and slowly the two ships pulled up side by side to one another. Pegasus fired grappling hooks to hold his ship to the Kaibas' ship and then they extended a retractable walkway from one ship to the other. Once they were docked, the Blue Eyes Two opened it's main hatch, allowing the vacuum of space to intrude upon it's corridors. Luckily though, everyone was wearing space suits.  
  
--------Scene Break--------  
  
"I hope this works." Weevil said as he stood poised to cross over to Pegasus' ship. The short little worm of a man took one step out of the ship, and planted his foot firmly on the walkway, knowing full well that any wrong move could send him flying out into the void.  
  
--------Scene Break--------  
  
After everyone had suited up in their space suits, Pegasus opened the main hatch of his ship, and as soon as the air had been suck out of the air lock, they saw that Weevil was crossing the walkway on his own and un tethered.  
  
"That fool, he's going to get himself killed like that!" Duke exclaimed. "Quickly now, someone hand me a line. I'm going out there after him."  
  
"Duke, you've never been in space before, you can't." Yugi said to his friend.  
  
"I have to, no one else seems willing to do it." Duke said then as soon as he was anchored, he let out for Weevil who was now struggling with each step he took. "Don't worry Weevil, I'm coming." Duke floated steadily closer and closer propelled by his own momentum.  
  
"Please help me!!!" Weevil cried over his radio. "I…I…I don't know how much further I can get on my own!" Duke came flying up to him and grabbed him up in his arms. Together they floated on to the hull of the Blue Eyes Two where Duke pushed off with his feet and sent them both flying back to Yugi and the others who caught them up in their waiting arms. "Oh thank you." He said reaching for his utility belt.  
  
"No problem Weevil, as creepy as you are, we'd have never left out their to die." Joey told him.  
  
"Then you're a better person than I." Weevil pulled out a large stun gun then and proceeded to zap them all at once. Yugi and his friends were all out cold when Seto Kaiba, Mokuba, and Rex came across from their ship to Pegasus'. Finally Yugi Mouto and his friends were at his mercy and soon, the entire universe would know who was really the best man. Yugi, or Kaiba, for when Yugi and awoke the two ships would be embroiled in the most dangerous Shadow Game ever conceived. 


	5. Chapter Four

Chapter Four.  
  
Once again Yugi awoke from an unexpected sleep only this time he was no safe nor was he sound within the protective walls of a space craft. No, this time he was floating in space tethered to an asteroid.  
  
"Where am I?" Yugi asked himself at first then he looked up and saw the run was distant and far off. He was no longer with in the confines of the solar system. "Weevil, that's right, he tricked us. Kaiba tricked us. I'll be that he wasn't really broken down. He just wanted to get me out and leave me here." Yugi didn't realize that his personal transmitter was online or he wouldn't have spoken such words out loud.  
  
"Don't be ridicules Yugi, I haven't brought you all this way just to abandon you. I want to see you die before my very eyes." Yugi looked around for where the disembodied voice was coming from and then he looked to a nearby asteroid. To his surprise Seto Kaiba was standing tethered to the hunk of space rock just as he was. He had his duel disk on and he looked ready for a fight.  
  
"Well Yugi if he's ready for a fight, then let's give him one." Yami whispered in Yugi's ear.  
  
"Sure thing." Yugi replied then he transformed from just being little Yugi Mouto to YU-GI-OH "Kaiba what's the meaning of this treasury?" Yugioh demanded to know.  
  
"I mean to take your life Yugi. For far too long you have haunted my steps and brought me the shame of loosing to you on the battlefield. Therefore, I have created a Shadow Game for us to play. Here in the cold dark of space will we play for the right to live." Kaiba told him.  
  
"What do you mean, the right to live?" Yugioh asked.  
  
"I mean simply that right now our two ships and your precious freinds are far away and the only way that either of us are going to get back alive is if one of us wins a shadow duel and thus wins the right to undo the tethers from our asteroids. Once the victor is free, he can then use this space shuttle, the Blue Eyes One to make it back to the fleet." Kaiba said and just as he said it, a small shuttle came flying by with Mokuba Kaiba in the pilot's seat.  
  
"Kaiba this is madness, why do you persist in these foolish shadow games when there is no reason for them? Don't you know that I don't care for pride or dignity. You have never been less of a man in my eyes. In fact I've always considered you a close friend. Now undo these tethers and let's rejoin the fleet before it's too late." Yugioh said.  
  
"NO! Not while both of us live! Yugi, for one of us to live a happy life, the other must die. I can not go on living any longer with you. I must kill you in order to go on with my life but first I must beat you in a shadow game. Do you remember the last time we dueled?"  
  
"I do." Yugioh replied.  
  
"I have gotten much stronger since then and now I'm ready for my ultimate victory. One which will usher in a new age for humanity." Kaiba stated. "One of us will return alive to lead the human race to it's new homeland and be hailed as a living god. The other will die a cold lonely death in the darkness of space."  
  
"Kaiba think about what you're doing." Yugioh pleaded with him. "Do you really want my blood on your hands? Do you really want to make my family and friends hate you for all eternity? Please Kaiba we both have people we want to go back to. You have your brother and Serenity Wheeler. I have Tea, my Grandfather, Joey, Tristan, and…"  
  
"Enough!" Kaiba yelled. "I don't care about any of that anymore. I don't care if any of your friends love me or hate me."  
  
"And what about Serenity?" Yugioh asked.  
  
"I love her, but it really doesn't matter is she loves me, or hates me. What matters is that I can go on with my life knowing that I was the better man." Kaiba told him then.  
  
"Kaiba, if you truly want to be the better man then undo these tethers and let's go home to our families." Yugioh tried to reason with him again, but there was no reasoning with a madman. Not when his pride was hurt and his ego was at stake.  
  
"It's too late Yugi, we're dueling, and I'm going to win. Now pick up your duel disk and prepare yourself for death's embrace." Kaiba drew his five cards off the top of his deck. Yugioh looked down at his feet and there was his duel disk and deck. He had no choice but to play this deadly shadow game after all.  
  
"Very well then Kaiba, if there can be no reasoning with you then I'll play but I will play to win." Yugioh put his duel disk on and drew his five cards. "I'll start things off, if that's alright with you?"  
  
"Fine." Kaiba replied.  
  
"I play Alpha The Magnet Warrior in Attack Mode and now I play Pot of Greed." Yugioh drew two more cards from his deck then laid two of them face down. "I end my turn."  
  
"Good, you were taking too long anyway." Kaiba berated him. "Now then for my move I draw one card from my deck."  
  
"Activate Light Force Sword!" Yugioh cried.  
  
"What?" The card in Kiaba's hand went out of play then and would stay out of play for four of his turns. "Yugi, you'll pay for that. I summon the Familiar Knight to the field. In the space between the asteroids their monsters appeared and waited for the command to do battle. It was Yugioh's turn now and so he drew a card.  
  
"Activate trap card!" Kaiba said. His face down card flipped face up and it was Jar of Greed. He too drew one card from his deck and then Yugi summoned a second monster.  
  
"I play Beta Magnet Warrior with 1700 attack points to destroy you Familiar Knight." When the Familiar Knight was destroyed, Kaiba's life points went down from 8000 to 7500 then he and Yugioh both were able to summon another monster to the field. This gave Yugioh two monsters against Kaiba's one monster. "I summon The Rare Metal Dragon."  
  
"And I summon Gamma The Magnet Warrior!" Yugioh's three monsters were weaker than Kaiba's monster though. Alpha had only 1400 attack points, Beta 1700, and Gamma had only 1500 against Kaiba's dragon which had 2400 attack points. So as his last move on that turn, Yugioh combined them. "I offer up Alpha, Beta, and Gamma to summon to the field Valkyrion The Magna Warrior with 3500 attack points and I end my turn."  
  
"Curse you Yugi, but very well, I have a few tricks up my sleeve also. I play Megamorph and equip it to my Dragon. Now he's 4800 points strong and your Magna Warrior is weaker. Now feel the wrath of the Dragons! Attack my Rare Metal Dragon and destroy his monster!" The dragon attacked and Valkyrion was destroyed, leaving Yugi's life points at 6700.  
  
---------Scene Break--------  
  
Tea and the others awoke on the bridge of their ship with Pegasus in the in the command seat. They all disoriented  
  
"What happened?" Joey asked. "Feels like I was struck by lightning of something."  
  
"Whatever it was, Weevil did it to us." Ryou pointed out. "I'll bet that he had planned it all along too."  
  
"But why?" Tea asked. Then she realized what was wrong. "Oh my gosh guys, where's Yugi?" They looked all around and when they could not find him they searched the ship for him but he was not there. "Guys what if Kaiba took him?" Tea supposed.  
  
"Why would he do that?" Duke asked. "Kaiba hates Yugi." Then it dawned on them. This whole scenario had been a ploy so that Kaiba could kidnap Yugi and get his revenge on him.  
  
"We've got to find him guys, we've got to catch up to Kaiba's ship!" Tea said as they all took their stations on the bridge. Duke and Ryou took seats at navigation and communications while Rebecca took up the Engineering station. Being that she was the brightest amongst them and most qualified.  
  
"I am a College Student After all, and cute for my age." She had told Pegasus when she volunteered. Once they had the ship up and running again they immediately started tracking down the Blue Eyes Two and the rest of the fleet. They all supposed that Yugi and Kaiba would be aboard.  
  
-------Scene Break--------  
  
Kaiba and Yugioh had dueled for what seemed like an eternity in the vastness of space. Their air tanks were running low, their breathing was forced, and they were both so cold. Kaiba's life points were down to 500, and Yugioh's to 450. This would be the draw that determined it all.  
  
"I tribute Kaiser Sea Horse to summon The Blue Eyes White Dragon." Kaiba said.  
  
"Activate face down card." Yugioh replied. "Chain Destruction. Now your other two Blue Eyes White Dragons have been sent to the grave yard and you can not play them again."  
  
"Damn you Yugi!" Kaiba cursed. "Very well then, I only need one Blue Eyes to destroy you. You have nothing left, all three of your Egyptian God cards have been destroyed along with my Blue Eyes Shining Dragon. Now we'll see who is the better Duelist when it comes down to the last cards in our hands. Go my blue Eyes white dragon, attack his Summoned Skull!"  
  
"Not so fast Kaiba!" Yugioh cried out. "Reveal my other face down card, Mirror Force!" Kaiba's blue eyes was destroyed by it's own attack and that meant that on Yugio's turn he would win.  
  
"NO!" Kaiba yelled. "NOT AGAIN!"  
  
"Summoned Skull, attack his life points directly!" Yugioh commanded and it was so. Kaiba's life points fell to 0 and Kaiba sank to his knees.  
  
"Again, he beat me again. Why does he always beat me?" He demanded.  
  
"Because Kaiba, you were dueling out of malice. I was dueling out of love. I was dueling for my beloved Tea and my friends. To see them happy again. Now I will make you an offer. Come back with me to the ship and let's put all this behind us. I'm willing to forgive you if you are willing to accept." Yugioh told him.  
  
"Please just forget this big brother." Mokuba said over the radio. "I don't want to have to leave you out here. I love you Seto and think of how sad it will make Serenity if you die!"  
  
"Mokuba…Serenity… Yugi, I don't know what to do." Kaiba said at last. "I can't lead this expedition onward after all I've done. I can't go on with your victories hanging over my head. I don't know what to do."  
  
"Well I know what to do." Mokuba said as he positioned this shuttle's grappling arm. "I'm going to take both you and Yugi home, Seto." Mokuba cut the tethers from the asteroids and then one at a time, he lifted his brother, then Yugioh to safety. Once they were both back on board, Kaiba berated his brother for helping them.  
  
"You should have left us both out there to die." Kaiba told Mokuba from the pilot's seat of the cockpit.  
  
"You say that now big brother, but once you see Serenity again, you'll be glad that I saved you." Mokuba was not the least bit hurt by his brother's fowl manner. Nor was Yugioh who was now once again, little Yugi Mouto. He was just glad that the shadow game was over, and that both he, and Kaiba had survived. Now they were on their way to join back up with the rest of the fleet. That meant that Yugi would soon be safely back in the arms of his beloved Tea.  
  
-------Scene Break----------  
  
Little did Yugi and the Kaiba's know that their ships would not be where they thought they would be. For Tea and the others had mounted a daring rescue mission of their own accord upon finding out that Yugi was not aboard the Blue Eyes Two. Now Tea and the others were desperately trying to track down the Blue Eyes One's propellant trail.  
  
"Their propellant!" Rebecca had exclaimed from her seat at engineering. "We can track their propellant trail if their engines are still expelling fuel. Liquid fuel such as rocket boosters are easier to track because they use fossil fuels, which burn up faster, and leave trace amounts of carbon monoxide."  
  
"What about the fact that we're in space, can we pick up such small trace amounts of Carbon in an atmosphereless environment?" Duke asked.  
  
"Sure, it's a lot easier than trying to pick it up when mixed with air. Here in space there are practically no other elements to interfere." Rebecca informed them.  
  
"Great, then lets go." Tea commanded. She stood up front now on the bridge watching out the windows for them.  
  
---------Scene Break---------  
  
"The Blue Eyes Two should be right here." Kaiba said as he scanned the area but both ships had long since left this area of space.  
  
"Where could they have gone?" Mokuba asked as he searched in vain out through the windows for their mother ship.  
  
"They must have gone looking for us." Yugi supposed. "If we go back to the asteroids then maybe…"  
  
"We haven't got time to run around in circles, Yugi." Kaiba told him. "This shuttle only has enough fuel and stored up batteries to last us another few hours. It's only a test ship if you'll remember. When I launched it into space the week before we took off from Earth, it was left in orbit around the planet until we picked it up. I had thought to use it as a temporary ship to ship transfer shuttle. It was never intended to last more than a week in space on it's own."  
  
"And it's already spent a week up here." Yugi realized. "Then what do we do once the power runs out?"  
  
"We die." Kaiba replied. 


	6. Chapter Five

Chapter Five.  
  
Tea's eyes began to tear up when at last arrived at the spot where the Blue Eyes One's vapor trail ended. There she was, in the same spot where they had only been a few hours before.  
  
"Did we get here in time?" Tea asked, crying.  
  
"It's difficult to say. They…may already be dead." Pegasus told her. "We may still be able to save them though if we hurry. We must dock them with our ship and re-pressurize their cockpit." Tea immediately ran to the hatch and put on her space helmet. Once they were docked she opened the main hatch and went with all he might into the cold vacuum sealed cockpit of the Blue Eyes One where she found Yugi, Kiaba, and Mokuba floating motionlessly around the cabin.  
  
"Yugi!" Tea cried. "Please don't be dead!" She pleaded as she lifted his visor to see inside of his space suit. Slowly Yugi opened his eyes and gave a brief smile. "Oh thank God." Tea took him in her arms and carried him all the way back to the Pegasus One where he and the Kaibas were soon up and about again with Kaiba barking orders to rejoin the fleet and Pegasus reminding him that this was his ship not the Kiaba's.  
  
"Now listen here, I don't have to take this from you." Pegasus said as he and Kiaba fought over the captain's chair.  
  
"I financed this expedition, so there for I'm in charge!" Kaiba argued.  
  
"We financed this mission together Kaiba boy, neither one of us could do it alone. So if you're done please go back to your own ship." Pegasus reminded him.  
  
"Those two will never get along." Yugi sighed.  
  
"What does that matter, we're all just happy to have you back." Tea and Rebecca said together.  
  
"How is it possible for a guy like Yugi to get two hot girls and I don't have anyone." Tristan wondered.  
  
"Beats me." Mokuba said. "I'm just thankful we're alive. There will be plenty of time for girls and sex and that sort of thing when we get to the new world. Speaking of which, I'd better radio the fleet to wait for us at quadrant 15." He jumped into the communications station and started punching up the radio frequency of the other ships. By this time they should have rejoined the fleet and started getting ready to make the last light speed jump out of the quadrant. But because of these unforeseen delays, they would be late in meeting back up with the rest of their fleet. Sitting there though, Mokuba couldn't help but sneak a peak at Rebecca who was over in the corner arguing with Tea over Yugi.  
  
"Yugi's mine!" Rebecca declared.  
  
"And I'm telling you, he loves me!" Tea shouted at the young genius.  
  
"I wonder what Rebecca sees in Yugi?" Mokuba asked himself under his breath. He'd become quite taken with her in the short time that he'd been around her. They didn't know each other that well, in fact they had only met on one or two other occasions. Still, there was something inside of him that felt good when Rebecca was around.  
  
"Guys, I'm ready for some food." Joey said as leaned back in his chair. "What's to eat around her Pegasus?"  
  
"Well, Joseph, my ship's galley is stocked with only the best name brand dehydrated and freeze dried foods." Pegasus answered.  
  
"Freeze dried?" Joey wasn't sure about this. He liked his food eatable.  
  
"Or if you prefer I'm sure Kaiba boy's ship is stocked with surplus military rations." Pegasus commented.  
  
"Hey, we've got lots better than that!" Mokuba retorted. "Seto and I made sure that our ship was stocked with the same foods as the American, Russian, and Chinese Astronauts eat."  
  
"I don't care anymore, let's just get some grub." Joey said getting up from his post. He floated over to the hatch and waited for the others.  
  
--------Scene Break-------  
  
"Why do we have to man this ship alone?" Rex complained as he and Weevil sat on the bridge of the Blue Eyes Two.  
  
"Because we're the only ones qualified to man the bridge while Mr. Kaiba is away." Weevil replied. "At least that what I keep telling myself. It's a shame we don't have some company up here. After all who wants to look at your face all the time Dino brain."  
  
"Watch it bug boy, we're the only ones up here remember, and it would be really sad if suddenly one of the hatches were the blow and suck you out into space." Rex teased Weevil by tapping a few non essential controls.  
  
"Uhhh, alright…alright already, but still you have to admit that things would be a little bit more pleasant around here if we had some female company." Weevil suggested.  
  
"What are you talking about Bug boy?" Rex asked.  
  
"Heh heh hee. Serenity Wheeler is still in suspended animation down in the cargo hold. We could wake her up and have a little fun." Weevil answered.  
  
"No, you don't think that she's…I mean she's Kaiba's girl and… we just couldn't…could we?" Rex thought about it for a moment more as Weevil waited for him. "Okay." He said blushing beat red. "Let's go have us some fun." They put the ship on auto pilot and then hurried down to the cargo hold where most of the Kaiba Corp. employees and their families were stored. There they found sleeping in her chamber, Serenity Wheeler. Seto Kaiba's lady love and future mother of his children.  
  
"Isn't she pale and perfect?" Weevil asked looking at her. "Just like a butterfly under glass."  
  
"Okay, you've definitely got to find yourself another hobby." Rex said. "All we have to do to thaw her out is press these buttons and wait for the chamber to open." He reached down and tapped the controls on the side of the chamber and then the warming process began. Lights came on inside the chamber and it began to grow warm to the touch.  
  
"Heehee, in lest than a ten minutes we'll have us a beautiful space madden to…."  
  
"To do what?" Kaiba asked walking up behind them. The two delinquents turned around slowly and to their great horror their employer stood before them in his dark purple robes and a terrible nameless expression on his face.  
  
"Mr. Kaiba sir, what are you doing back so soon?" Weevil managed to ask.  
  
"Yeah, how was your duel with Yugi?" Rex inquired.  
  
"YOU DIE NOW!" Kaiba screamed and then chased the two horny teens out of the cargo bay. They ran jumped and floated around the ship a couple of times until finally Kaiba settled down and Serenity was completely thawed out. When she awoke, surrounded family and friends, she hardly questioned anything. Then she realized from the grave looks on everyone's faces that something was wrong.  
  
How could they tell her, everyone wondered, as Serenity rose up from her bed to ask,  
  
"What's going on?" They all knew that they would have to tell her. It would break Serenity's heart though and everyone knew that. Even Kaiba who said not a word but simply took her hand in his. "Guy's you're scaring me." She said. "What's wrong? Why am I in this bed and why is my hair all wet? Did I get drunk and fall in the pool?"  
  
"Oh if only it were that comical." Pegasus said, his eyes tearing up.  
  
"Serenity." Joey said putting his arms around her. "I've got something pretty bad to tell you."  
  
"The earth is what?!" Serenity exclaimed when Joey told her all that had transpired after the night of the ball. Serenity cried a river on Joey's shoulder and clenched Kaiba's hand as though it were her only lifeline from insanity. "What…what about mom and dad?" Serenity asked. "They're safe too, right?"  
  
"Sure, they're down in the cargo hold just like you were." Yugi told her.  
  
"Yeah, it's alright Serenity, all our families made off of Earth safe and sound." Tea said.  
  
"Besides, now is not the time to grieve for a lost world who's people were going to hell in a hand basket anyway." Kaiba finally spoke. "We've got bigger things to worry about."  
  
"Like for instance?" Ryou asked.  
  
"Like preparing for the transition to light speed." Mokuba said. "Everyone needs to get back to their own ships and strap themselves in for a long journey."  
  
"Hey wait a minute, who's ship do you think my sister's staying on?" Joey demanded to know.  
  
"On whatever ship she wishes." Kaiba said. "It's up to her, but should she choose this one, don't be too astonished. After all, I think that she prefers my company to that your silly little click."  
  
"Silly click!" Joey was outraged. No one insults his friends like that and gets away with it.  
  
"Hold on now Joey." Serenity said, tugging at his jacket. "I'm not the least bit in the mood for yours' or Seto's posturing. Right now I just need to be with the people I love. All of them. So Joey, I'm going to ask you a favor. Will you stay here with me and Seto?" Serenity asked him sweetly.  
  
"Awe, Sis, you know I can't say no to you. Okay, but only if Mai agrees to stay here too."  
  
"Me Joey?" Mai asked. She's been silent for a long time about all this. To tell the truth she didn't know what to make of any of this herself. She'd had lots of friends back on earth who had died, just like all of them had, but now she guessed that she needed those friends she had left more than ever. "Okay sure thing."  
  
"Okay then I suppose we'll all just head back to the Pegasus." Duke said. "See you guys later." Everyone put their space suits back on and went to the main hatch where they said a farewell to each other and then split up. Joey, Mai, and Serenity stayed on the Blue Eyes Two with Kaiba, Mokuba, Weevil, and Rex. Once Yugi and others were safely aboard the Pegasus they went back to the bridge and strapped themselves down in their stations to await the transition to light speed. They would have to initiate as soon as possible if they were going to catch up with the rest of the fleet. The other ships had probably already made the jump to light speed and were probably quadrants away from there by now.  
  
"Read for light speed." Kaiba ordered everyone.  
  
"Making calculations for light speed now." Rex said.  
  
"Course and heading programmed." Weevil added.  
  
"Light speed go!" Kaiba commanded and the ships began to speed up.  
  
"Cutting out sub-light engines." Rex reported from his station.  
  
"Ahead all full." Weevil reported from his. "We're transitioning to light speed." All of a sudden the stars disappeared and beams of bright glowing lights began to swirl around them.  
  
--------Scene Break---------  
  
From the Pegasus, Kaiba's ship looked like a long white blur, and vise versa. The two ships zoomed through space at the speed of light and once they caught up with the rest of the fleet, everything seemed to be going along quite smoothly.  
  
"We're stable at 90 of full power." Rebecca reported to Pegasus.  
  
"Good girl, now what's the status on our heading?" He asked.  
  
"Heading on course 1549.6" Yugi reported.  
  
"Hey guys, I'm getting kind of board." Tea told them all when things had settled into a kind of slow pace.  
  
"Well, maybe we can find something to better occupy our time." Ryou said. "Like having a long over due wedding for two friends of ours."  
  
"You're not serious." Tea said, "You expect Yugi and I to just get married out here in space, with no church, no preacher, and our families frozen away in suspended animation?"  
  
"It wouldn't be that bad would it?" Yugi asked. "I mean, what's stopping us from getting married now? We don't have school to finish anymore and we don't have any obligations to anything or anyone else."  
  
"Yeah but it wouldn't be legal." Tea reminded them all. "We're out here in the middle of nowhere with no laws other than our own sense of moral judgment to guide us."  
  
"That's not true." Pegasus said. "We have ship's articles. In the days of ancient sailing vessels the crew and passengers signed ships articles which stipulated law on the high seas. Out here in space we have the same. The Captain's word is law and since I'm the captain of this ship, I say it's perfectly legal for young Tea and little Yugi to get married."  
  
"Hey yeah, can't the captain of a ship perform marriage ceremonies?" Duke asked.  
  
"I certainly can." Pegasus replied. "I'd be happy to marry Yugi and Tea off to one another."  
  
"Then it's settled." Tristan said. "Let's get these two crazy kids married!" He grabbed Yugi and Tea both up the arms and brought them before Pegasus.  
  
"Hold on, what about everyone else?" Yugi asked. "We need Joey, Serenity, Mai, and the Kaibas here too."  
  
"It wouldn't be a real wedding without the best man and the Bride's maids." Tea added.  
  
"Great, whatever." Rebecca said. "Don't suppose you'd need a flower girl?"  
  
"Sure would." Yugi said looking over at her with a smile. That smile of Yugi's was almost enough to make everything all better for Rebecca. She hated the thought of Yugi being with Tea instead of her, but there was nothing that she could do about it, so she decided that she might as well be happy for them both.  
  
"Great then it's settled then, we'll bring this trek to a halt just long enough have a blow out wedding for Yugi and Tea then we'll continue on our original heading for the new world." Pegasus said. "Call up Kaiba boy and tell him the happy news."  
  
--------Scene Break---------  
  
It took some doing but after an hour and a half of arguing the whether to, the why for, and such they finally managed to talk Kaiba into bringing their fleet to a halt long enough to have a wedding for Yugi and Tea. They decided to hold it outside in space with their space suits on. Everyone played their part down to the last little detail. Joey was best man, Mai and Serenity were brides' maids, and Rebecca was the flower girl. Mokuba would up being the ring barer and the two rings they used were on loan from Pegasus. They were the same rings used during his and his wife's wedding. It had been a long time since he'd brought them out but now he didn't think that his darling Cecilia would mind.  
  
"Do you Yugi Mouto take Tea Anzu to be your lawfully wedded wife?" Pegasus asked over his radio.  
  
"I do." Yugi replied.  
  
"And you Tea take Yugi to be your lawfully wedded Husband?"  
  
"I do." Tea replied.  
  
"Then with the power of the position of Captain of the good ship Pegasus, I do here by pronounce you man and wife. You may…Uh, you may kiss the bride as soon as we get back inside, there's a meteor shower heading straight towards us!" Pegasus exclaimed  
  
"What?" Everyone turned around and looked and there they were, a million or so meteors heading straight towards them. They all scrambled to get inside of the nearest ship which turned out to be the Pegasus.  
  
"Quickly turn on the light speed engines and get us out of here." Kaiba commanded.  
  
"It'll take some time before we can transition back over to light speed." Rebecca informed them all. "The Engines won't be able to hold out if we go straight into light speed!"  
  
"If we don't then we're all dead!" Pegasus realized.  
  
"Do it!" Kaiba yelled. Rebecca hesitated for a moment but she complied. They turned on the light speed engines and the entire fleet took off after the Pegasus into the light speed. The meteor shower passed them by with no ill effect, but once they were out of the way, they began to slow down  
  
"What's happening?" Joey asked. "Why are we dropping our of light speed?"  
  
"That's precisely what I'd like to know." Kaiba turned to Rebecca.  
  
"I warned you." She said to him in a huff. "The reason we're dropping out of light speed is because we went straight into light speed without warming up the engines first. Now every ship in the fleet is breaking down."  
  
"Breaking down?" Pegasus asked. "You mean our engines won't work any longer?"  
  
"Not the light speed engines." Rebecca replied. "Our sub light engines are still perfectly operational but considering the fact that we've no replacement parts to fix the light speed engines, I'm sorry to say that we'll have a very short trip ahead of us."  
  
"Why short?" Yugi asked.  
  
"Because we'll have expended most of our fuel within three to four weeks." Rebecca told them all. Things did not look good at all for them.  
  
"Mokuba, get on the navigation charts and send out more probes." Kaiba ordered.  
  
"What good will that do?" Mokuba asked.  
  
"We've got to find another, closer, inhabitable planet." Kaiba said. All their hopes were dashed at his point. If Kaiba's deeps space probes could have found another planet that was closer it would had done so before.  
  
"Say we can't find one." Ryou said. "What will we do then?"  
  
"It would take us years to travel to our original destination with only our booster rockets to propel us." Kaiba informed them. Our sub light engines will give out before long and we'll have to fall back on the rockets anyway but until that happens we'll search. There must be another Earth like planet out there, if not one that we could terra-form, and make just like our old Earth. Along with the food supplies and construction equipment, I brought along building materials as well as plants, seeds, and live stock. All we have to do is find a planet with a breathable atmosphere."  
  
Mokuba launched the probes and everyone returned to their stations to wait for the incoming data being transmitted from the probes back to the Blue Eyes Two. Several pleasant possibilities came up but they were all too far away for the fleet to reach them. In the mean time, Kaiba's ships coasted along on their navigational thrusters to conserve fuel for the sub-light engines.  
  
"How about that one." Tea pointed out a bright blue planet with several small islands on it's surface.  
  
"That's pretty close but according to the probes there's no fresh water anywhere on the surface of the planet, it's all salt water and those islands are too small to contain a human population. We need a planet with more land and fresh water." Rebecca said looking at the incoming information from the probes.  
  
"Oh." Tea sighed.  
  
"Don't worry Tea, we'll find a place to put down roots." Yugi said trying to encourage his young wife. His wife. How wonderful that felt to them both to be husband and wife at last. Now they were on this grand adventure to find a new home world for humanity. Even though there was not much hope at this point, they found courage and strength in each other.  
  
-------Scene Break-------  
  
"Oh Joey, what if we never find a place to call home." Serenity despaired. Her brother stood on the bridge of the Blue Eyes Two and looked over the monitors and then out at space. He didn't know what to say to his little sister to make it all better this time. He only knew that he had to be there for her.  
  
"Don't worry sis." He told her. "Kaiba's a jerk but he's a genius. He'll find something."  
  
"Oh Joey, I wish that you wouldn't put Seto down like that." Serenity scolded him.  
  
"Can't help it, it's a reflex." Joey replied, joking of course. "Hey Kaiba hurry up and find something, will you?"  
  
"Time is of the essence Wheeler, I know, but we can't rush this. We can't just settle for any old planet. The conditions must be right for inhabitation or else when we set foot on the ground we'll all die." He informed Joey.  
  
"Aren't we the optimist." Joey said sarcastically.  
  
"What about that one?" Serenity asked pointing to one screen. Kaiba looked up at where she was pointing and to his astonishment there was a planet with excellent Earth like conditions just another few weeks away. The trip would be a stretch for their fuel supply but after some minor calculations, Kaiba was sure that they could make it if they used their sub-light engines sparingly and relied on their thrusters for the last leg of the journey. There was only one problem though. According to the probes there were signs on the surface of the planet that there had once been some great civilization living there. The idea was to find a planet which had never been inhabited.  
  
"This one will have to do." Kaiba said. "Contact Pegasus and tell him that we've found a promising prospect. At the very least we'll be able to set down there long enough to make repairs to the light speed engines." 


	7. Chapter Six

Chapter Six.  
  
Mokuba was restless as he lay in his bunk. It had been nearly a week since they set out from earth and now it was finally sinking in. Until they reached the new world, this ship was home. He missed his old room back on earth where his toys and clothes and his nice soft bed were. Well, where they used to be. Now those things were all packed away in the cargo bay. He had nothing to do except his job as Communications Officer and Co Captain of the Blue Eyes Two. To make matters worse, until they reached the new world, he was the only child his age around. Well that wasn't strictly true. Rebecca was his age, though she didn't act it, but she on the Pegasus.  
  
"Still." Mokuba said to himself. "It couldn't hurt to call her up." He decided now would be best time to do since his brother was asleep and the ship was on auto pilot. He'd be the only one on the bridge. Mokuba got up and as quietly as he could, he snuck out of his and his brother's room. He traveled up the corridor and through the secondary hatch to the Bridge, and found it deserted, just as he'd hoped. "Now to contact the Pegasus. There's sure to be someone up over there. Their systems are not quite as advanced as ours so they'll need someone to make course corrections manually." He put the headset on and turned the radio transmitter on to the Pegasus's frequency. "Blue Eyes to Pegasus, Blue Eyes to Pegasus, come in."  
  
"This is the Pegasus." Came a sweet reply. It was Rebecca, she was up, and evidently it was her watch.  
  
"Yes." Mokuba said to himself. "She's up."  
  
"Hello?" Rebecca asked.  
  
"Oh, um hey this is Mokuba Kaiba, remember me?" He asked her, not knowing what else to say.  
  
"Duh, of course I remember you, we're stuck up here in space together." Rebecca replied. "Now what's up, this channel is for official business, incase you've forgotten."  
  
"I uh, well, I just wanted to call over to the Pegasus and asked how everything was over there." Mokuba said. Rebecca didn't quite know what he was talking about. How were they? They were fine, I mean, why wouldn't they be?  
  
"We're all fine over here." She said hastily. "Nice to hear from you, goodbye."  
  
"Hey wait!" Mokuba shouted, "I uh, how are Yugi and Tea doing after their wedding the other day?" Rebecca became really annoyed now.  
  
"They're just fine, they're on their…" She chocked on the words. "Honeymoon and why do you Kiaba's care about how Yugi is anyway?"  
  
"Hey please don't be that way." Mokuba pleaded with Rebecca. "I'm not like my brother, I really like Yugi, he's my friend. He's helped me out of some really tight jams and he's been there for me when things looked bleakest. I really am worried about you guys over there, even though my brother may not be, and I'm lonely." He admitted to her.  
  
"Lonely?" Rebecca hadn't expected this. "Lonely for what, you have everything in the universe to keep you from being lonely, and besides that; you've got all your ship's crew to keep you company."  
  
"I mean I'm lonely for someone my age." Mokuba replied.  
  
"Some one your age?" Rebecca finally got it now. She forgot sometimes that she was only a child. Even though she had been a college student back on earth, and she'd been as mature about things as some grown ups were, she was still just a kid. When it came right down to it, she supposed that in a way, she was lonely too.  
  
"Yeah." Mokuba told her. "You know, our age?"  
  
"So what do you want to talk about?" Rebecca asked him finally.  
  
"Well, I hear that you're a pretty good duelist." Mokuba said.  
  
"Yeah, I used to be, but not anymore." She replied.  
  
"Why is that?" Mokuba asked.  
  
"Because, I threw my deck away." She told him.  
  
"Threw it away!" Mokuba exclaimed. "That's terrible. No duelist should ever throw their deck away, that's one of the first things that my brother, Seto taught me about Duel Monsters."  
  
"I know, it was stupid of me, but I was mad. I wasn't thinking straight. I even threw away the card that Yugi gave me after our first duel." Rebecca began to cry and poor Mokuba didn't know what to do.  
  
"Hey don't cry." He tried to tell her, but now Rebecca's tears sounded uncontrollable. He wished he'd never said anything, and he hated himself for making Rebecca cry. Then Mokuba had an idea. "Hey, meet me at the docking hatch in thirty minutes." He said to her.  
  
"You're coming over?" Rebecca asked, surprised, and with a sniffle.  
  
"Yeah, I'm going to come over and help you put together a new deck." Mokuba said then turned off the radio.  
  
------------Scene Break--------------  
  
Rebecca didn't know what was going on. Mokuba had said he was coming over to their ship, but how, and why? He said that he was going to help her make a new deck, but with what, and why would he do that for her? They barely knew each other, and it wasn't like they were friends, or anything like that. All Rebecca could think was that something pretty strange was going on.  
  
----------Scene Break---------------  
  
Mokuba slipped down to the cargo bay and from there he took a large crate of duel monsters booster packs which had been packed away by his older brother who hoped to capitalize on the cards when new generations of young duelists would be born on the new world. Pegasus too had stashed away crates upon crates of cards and even brought alone his manufacturing equipment so that he could start his business up again on the new world.  
  
"Here we are." Mokuba said lifting what on Earth would have been a box weighing five times what he did. Here in space though, there was no gravity, and in an environment like that Mokuba had the strength of ten fully grown men. He carried the crate down to the loading hatch where the Blue Eyes One was docked with the ship. It had been refueled and was just waiting for someone to take it out again. Once the crate was loaded, Mokuba climbed into the cockpit of the small shuttle and disconnected the docking clamps. The Blue Eyes One fell away from the Blue Eyes Two and soon it's boosters were aglow as it headed over to the Pegasus.  
  
----------Scene Break----------  
  
As promised, Rebecca was waiting for Mokuba by the docking hatch aboard the Pegasus. She didn't know why she was waiting for him though. She felt a little silly, like she waiting for a date to arrive, and when she thought about meeting Mokuba Kaiba as a date; she became even more embarrassed to the point of calling the whole thing off. She wanted to send him back to his own ship when he got there. She wouldn't even let him in but then arrived and when she saw his face through the porthole she just couldn't say no. Rebecca opened up the hatch and stood back as Mokuba lifted the crate high above his head and floated up and out of his shuttle.  
  
"Hi." He said to her.  
  
"Hi." Rebecca replied.  
  
"Well, here I am, and I brought some booster packs." Mokuba pointed out. He opened the crate and the tiny packs of cards came floating out of the box. "Is there somewhere we can go to kind of look through them and see what we can come up with?" He asked.  
  
"There's the cargo hold." Rebecca answered. They each took an arm load of cards and floated down the corridor to the cargo hold where they set up for a long night. They sat there for hours looking at cards and tearing open booster packs. Hardly saying a word to one another until one card or another caught their attention. Then, after a while, Rebecca had a question for Mokuba. "Mokuba," She said, "Do you like me or something?" Mokuba looked up and blushed as he tried to come up with an answer that wouldn't frighten Rebecca off. The truth was he did like her a lot and he wanted to tell her but he was afraid.  
  
"Um, well…" He began. "I uh, sort of do."  
  
"Sort of?" She asked him.  
  
"Well, more than sort of." He said turning beat red. "I kind of like you a lot."  
  
"Wow." Rebecca said, astonished. "I didn't think that you were into girls yet Mokuba." She told him. "As much as you hang around your big brother, I thought for sure that you were one of those spoiled rich kids who just like to play with their million dollar toys."  
  
"No way, I'm not like that at all, Rebecca. I do really like you. I just have been afraid to say anything since we don't really know each other that well." He was being so sweet to her. Rebecca felt kind of guilty because deep down inside of her heart she knew that nothing could ever be between them. She was still in love with Yugi and even though he was married to Tea, she couldn't help but dream.  
  
"Gosh Mokuba, I'm sorry." She told him, trying to be honest. "I just don't like you the same way that you like me." Mokuba heard the words but at first he didn't understand them.  
  
"What do you mean?" He asked her.  
  
"I mean that I'm still in love with someone else. Even though I can't have that person right now doesn't stop my hoping and wishing. You see someday he's going to get tired of his perky brown haired flame and when that day comes, I'm going to be there for him." She told Mokuba.  
  
"You mean Yugi." Mokuba said. "Wow you're so sure about that. Don't you think that's a little too weird?"  
  
"Weird?" Rebecca was outraged. "Why do you think that?"  
  
"Well, Yugi's so much older than you." Mokuba reminded her. "What can you possibly have with him? I mean if you think about it, that's kind of sick, and he's not ever going to go for it." This just made Rebecca angrier and so she flung the cards in her hand at Mokuba who fell back stunned and hurt. Not hurt physically, but emotionally, he was crushed.  
  
"You want to run your mouth rich boy then go ahead but I'm going to listen. Just because you have everything else doesn't mean that you can have me!" Rebecca declared.  
  
"I didn't think that I could buy you." Mokuba said trying to recover. "Please just give me a chance Rebecca, I'd make a better boyfriend than Yugi would, you'll see. Just give me a chance." He pleaded.  
  
"There's only one thing that you can do to prove that you're every bit as good as Yugi." Rebecca informed him. "You have to beat him in a duel. Then and only then would I ever consider going with you Mokuba Kaiba." Rebecca's face was stern and hard but still so cute. Mokuba couldn't resist. He reached over and grabbed her then without even asking her permission, he kissed her on the lips. It wasn't a hard kiss like a punk would kiss a girl but a long, sweet, passionate kiss. One that made Rebecca's blood rush to her head and her cheeks turn red.  
"What…what was that for?" She asked when he let her go.  
  
"That's just a preview." Mokuba said. "I'm going now to challenge Yugi and once I beat him, you'll be mine." He said with determination. Mokuba reached down into his pocket and found his deck. He took some of the booster pack cards and slipped them in just before darting out of the cargo hold and down the corridor to Ship's crew quarters where Tea and Yugi were sleeping soundly in their bunk. Everything seemed peaceful until Mokuba stormed into the room with a huff, waking everyone, and astonishing the crew of the Pegasus with his challenge. "Yugi, you and I have business to conclude!"  
  
"Business, what business, Mokuba?" Yugi asked groggily.  
  
"That's just for yours and my ears Yugi, step outside, and let's talk about this for a moment." Mokuba said to him then waited for him to comply. A confused and astonished Yugi got up from his and Tea's bunk and started towards the door while everyone else lay there dumbfounded. They knew that Seto Kaiba could be a really determined guy when he wanted something but they had never seen this sort of behavior out of Mokuba Kaiba. They were about to find out though that the same passion which ran through the older brother's vanes ran through the younger.  
  
"What, a duel!" Yuig exclaimed from out in the corridor. Just then Rebecca came running up to stand behind Mokuba. "What this all about you two?" Yugi wanted to know.  
  
"It's about love." Mokuba said and Rebecca blushed again. "It's about how I can only have Rebecca's love if I beat you in a duel so lets' go." He said. "I've got my deck and I'm ready to go when you are." Yugi still didn't understand what Mokuba was saying to him, but he saw how determined he was to duel him, and he realized that there was no way to satisfy Mokuba until one of them failed on the duelist platform.  
  
"Very well, Yugi, let's duel him." Yami said.  
  
"Are you sure about that?" Yugi asked.  
  
"Can't you see the pain and the want in Mokuba's eyes, Yugi?" Yami pointed to young Mokuba was holding back tears and then to Rebecca who was obviously confused about her own feelings at the moment. "They are both hurting inside and maybe this will cure them both." Yami said.  
  
"Okay, but I still don't understand what's going on, are you saying that Mokuba is in love with Rebecca and he thinks that the only way he can have her affections is to beat me in a duel?" Yugi asked.  
  
"Not just you, Yugi, but us, together." Yami explained.  
  
"Okay, I get it now. It's kind of silly, but I understand how love can drive people to do some silly things. Let's do this for love." Yugi said.  
  
"For love, and we'll make a fair duel, Yugi. We'll give Mokuba everything that we gave his brother."  
  
"Okay." Yugi said to Mokuba. "I'll duel you." Mokuba could hardly believe his ears but when he had his okay, he felt like a man at last. He was no longer a young boy, but an adult who was fighting for his one true love. "Where shall we duel?"  
  
"Outside of course." Mokuba said. "In space where there's room for you to use those Egyptian God Cards."  
  
"The Egyptian Gods!" Rebecca exclaimed. "Mokuba, don't, those things have incredible powers. You'll never be able to defeat them!" "My brother can beat the God cards, so can I. Besides, beating the Gods is only one part, I have to beat Yugi's heart of the cards. I'm dueling for you though Rebecca. I'm sure that I'll win."  
  
"Oh, how sweet." Tea commented from inside the crew quarters.  
  
"Hey man, these are just kids, what's the big deal about?" Tristan wondered.  
  
"YUGIOH!" Yugi cried as he and Yami merged for their duel with Mokuba.  
  
------Scene Break--------  
  
The fleet came to a halt again and both Mokuba and Yugioh met outside in the darkness of space with their respective crews watching from the windows and portholes inside the Pegasus and the Blue Eyes Two. Seto Kaiba stood on the bridge of his ship, poised to see if his little brother could do what he could not, and that was beat the King of Games at his own game with his own heart of the cards.  
  
"Are you ready?" Pegasus asked from the bridge of his ship. He would be the official referee.  
  
"I'm ready." Mokuba replied.  
  
"As am I." Answered Yugioh.  
  
"Then let this duel begin." Pegasus said. "Young Mokuba Kaiba will go first."  
  
"Fine, I play one card face down on the field and another in defense mode. Now I end my turn." Mokuba said. Yugioh looked at his deck and felt the heart of the cards, it was against him this time.  
  
"How can this be?" Yugi asked himself. "The heart of the cards is with Mokuba this time. I'm sure of it."  
  
"Because he's dueling for love." Came Yami's voice from deep within. "His is the more righteous cause." Yugioh knew at that moment he had lost the duel before he even laid down his first card. Still, he'd promised Mokuba a fair fight, and that was what he was going to give him.  
  
"I draw one card and place three face down cards on the field. Now I summon Koumori Dragon to the field in attack mode and end my turn." Yugioh was not about to attack first, not by a long shot, but was fully prepared incase Mokuba decided to attack him on the next turn.  
  
"Well, Yugi didn't fall for my trap, but this time he'll have no choice but to attack me." Mokuba schemed. "I flip summon the Masked Dragon in attack mode." Mokuba announced after drawing a card from his deck. This did not make sense to Yugioh. Mokuba could see that his their dragons were not of equal strength. Mokuba's Masked Dragon was only 1400 attack points strong while Yugioh's Koumori Dragon was 1500 attack points.  
  
"Very well, I draw and I attack! Koumori Dragon attack his Masked Dragon and destroy him!" Yugioh commanded Koumori Dragon flew forward though space at the red and white dragon on the other side of the field. Just then though, Mokuba activated a trap card.  
  
"Mask of weakness!" Mokuba declared and the purple, horned mask appeared on the Koumori Dragon's head and drained it's attack points by 700.  
  
"Dust Tornado!" Yugioh cried flipping over a trap of his own. The mask of weakness vanished. Koumori Dragon's attack points went back up to 1500 and Mokuba's Masked Dragon was destroyed. But then suddenly another set of dragons appeared on the field before the Koumori Dragon and they each had 2000 attack points. Together they destroyed Yugioh's dragon and with it his life points went down from 8000 to 7500 "How can this be?" Yugioh demanded to know.  
  
"When my Masked Dragon was destroyed, Yugi, I was allowed to summon another dragon type card from my deck and I chose Troop Dragons. Then I equipped them with this quick play magic card, Dragon's Gun Fire which, increased their attack points each by 800. Two Dragons against one is really an unfair advantage when you think about it but that's just what you get when you stand in the way of love!" Mokuba declared. "Anyway, I lay one card face down, and that's my turn. So now it's up to you to move this game along."  
  
"Hmm." Yugioh would have to plan his next move more carefully. "I draw, and play Mystical Elf in Defense mode." Mokuba's life points were at 7900 and Yugioh's were at 7500 so already Mokuba had taken a slight lead. Without the heart of the cards on his side, Yugioh feared that he would loose this duel.  
It was Mokuba's turn now and his Troop Dragons were now back down to their original attack and defense points which was 1200. He couldn't beat Yugi with those but another monster in his hand would do quite well.  
  
"I sacrifice Troop Dragons to summon Luster Dragon #2." Troop Dragons disappeared and then suddenly a huge emerald green dragon appeared. "And just so you don't get any funny ideas about going after my life points with anything, Yugi, here's another troop dragons from my deck."  
  
"How can you summon two more monsters once you've sacrificed two already?" Yugioh wanted to know."  
  
"Because when Troop Dragons is sent from the field to the graveyard, another set of Troop Dragons is automatically summoned to the field. Now go my Luster Dragon, attack his Elf!" The Gigantic emerald dragon opened it's jaws wide and spewed fire at this Mystical Elf who would have been destroyed if Yugioh had not played yet another trap card he'd placed face down on the field on his first turn.  
  
"Magic Cylinder!" He declared and the cylinders appeared in the Elf maiden's hands. The Luster Dragon's attack went into one cylinder and came blasting out the other, straight back at Mokuba.  
  
"Shift!" Mokuba Cried and flipped his own trap card over. The redirected attack swerved away from Mokuba's life points and back at his dragon. The Dragon was destroyed but his life points were safe.  
  
"Yugi, that was too predictable." Mokuba said sounding more like his brother with every card played. "You promised me an honorable duel. Let's see some of the same determination you dueled my brother with."  
  
"Mokuba, why are you dueling me?" Yugioh asked him again.  
  
"Because, I want to be Rebecca's boyfriend and the only way she'll agree is if I beat you at this duel. I know that sounds kind of corny but that's what she said. Now I have to win or I'll never be able to be with her. I draw." Mokuba looked at his diminished hand and wondered what he could do next. He had two dragons on the field, he could summon another monster but what could beat Yugi's Elf? "Here we go, the card my brother gave me for my birthday. The Judge Man." He said and sacrificed his Troop Dragons to summon him. Another set of Troop Dragons appeared right beside of the Judge Man and then Mokuba equipped them with the Gravity Axe-Grarl which allowed him to summon yet another high level monster. Guardian Grarl.  
  
"So now you have four monsters on the field." Yugioh said as he summed up the odds. "This does not hold well for me."  
  
"No it doesn't and this will prove my love for Rebecca." Mokuba said. "I attack with all four monsters. First with Judge Man to destroy your Mystical Elf!" He declared. The Judge Man attacked and the Elf was destroyed. Then Yugioh's life points took serious blows from Mokuba's two Troop Dragons.  
Yugioh lost 1700 more life points and he would have lost 2500 more than that from Guardian Grarl if he had not flipped over his last trap card.  
  
"Spellbinding Circle!" He shouted and Mokuba's fourth monster was restrained.  
  
"We're not done yet Yugi." Mokuba said and placed another card down on the field. "Monster Reborn!" He declared and from his graveyard returned his Luster Dragon #2.  
  
--------Scene Break--------  
  
Everyone was watching the duel as it unfolded before their eyes. Tea, Joey, Serenity ,Mai, Tristan, Ryou, Duke, Kaiba, and Rebecca. She couldn't understand how Mokuba could be dueling so hard for her of all people when they hadn't known each other very well at all. How could he already love her so and why had she said such hurtful things to him before?  
  
"Wow, this is so romantic." Tea said wiping a tear from her eyes.  
  
"Who are you guys betting on?" Joey asked everyone. They all said  
  
"For Yugi, of course." But not Tea. She said that she was cheering for little Mokuba.  
  
"What?! Mokuba?!" They all exclaimed. "Why him?"  
  
"Because guys, he obviously cares about Rebecca so much that he's willing to go out into the hazards of space to duel for her affections. Besides if he wins then maybe Rebecca will leave Yugi alone." Rebecca could understand how Tea felt. She wouldn't want anyone clinging to her guy either. Then again, she didn't exactly have a guy. All she had was…Mokuba. It finally hit her like a bolt of lightning from the sky. She had Mokuba's heart.  
  
------Scene Break-------  
  
Seto Kaiba watched from his ship as his little brother was creaming Yugi. This delighted him, in the fact that he'd trained his brother so well, and that he actually beating Yugi.  
  
"So much for his precious Heart of the Cards." Kaiba snickered.  
  
------Scene Break-------  
  
It was Yugioh's turn, he drew a card, and played Exchange. It was a bit of a risk considering that in his hand was the Winged Dragon of Ra, a powerful Egyptian God who's power was well known to both the Kaiba Brothers. If Mokuba chose that card then he would have just enough monsters on the field to sacrifice to summon him. He and Mokuba floated over to one another and handed over their hands for each other to take one card from.  
  
"I'll take Jar of Greed." Yugioh said.  
  
"And I'll take The Winged Dragon of Ra." Mokuba said. They returned to their respective places on the field and the duel continued.  
  
"Now I place one card face down on the field and summon from my hand Giant Soldier of Stone." Mokuba had Yugi on the defensive and he knew it. Now was the time for Mokuba's finest hour. He would be victorious.  
  
"Fist Yugi, I'm going to play this card, Soul Exchange which means that I can sacrifice one of your monsters in place of my own and I choose to sacrifice my Luster Dragon with 2400 points, Guardian Grarl with 2500 points, and your soldier of stone with 1300 points to summon the Winged Dragon of Ra with 6200 attack points.  
  
------Scene Break-------  
  
No once could believe it. Mokuba had done the impossible and was about to defeat Yugi with one of his own Egyptian God Monsters. Both Rebecca and Kaiba were awe struck. This was the pivotal and the defining moment of Mokuba's career as a Duelist.  
  
"Go Mokuba, Finish him off!" Kaiba yelled over the radio to his little brother.  
  
-------Scene Break-  
"Yugi, it's been fun dueling you but for Rebecca, for my brother, and for myself, I must finish you off." Mokuba said.  
  
"I understand." Yugi replied and readied himself for the finishing move.  
  
"Go Winged Dragon of Ra, attack his life points directly!" Mokuba commanded and the great beast did so. Ra roared and then spouted fire balls at Yugioh who was sent flying back against the hull of the Pegasus. His life points were gone.  
  
-------Scene Break--------  
  
No one on either ship could believe what he or she had just seen. There was now a new King of Games and it was Mokuba Kaiba. He'd won the duel and more than that, he had in deed won Rebecca's love, and her admiration. She hailed her new hero with pride and leaped for joy at his triumphant return for her in the Blue Eyes One.  
  
"Oh Moky, you were wonderful!" She cried when she saw him again. Rebecca threw her arms around Mokuba's shoulders and gave him a big kiss on the cheek. Mokuba was in heaven and it could be seen on his face the way he was turning beat red.  
  
"Well Mokuba, good duel." Yugi said, now normal, little Yugi again. "I think that you forgot something out there though." He handed Mokuba a card and when he saw what it was, Mokuba nearly freaked out.  
  
"Yugi, I can't take this!" He exclaimed. Everyone looked down and there in Mokuba's hands was the Winged Dragon of Ra.  
  
"You earned it Mokuba. You beat me, and that's something that not that many people can say, so please take this card." Yugi told him. Mokuba took out his deck and slipped the Winged Dragon of Ra into it. The Deck seemed to glow with the power of this new monster.  
  
"Gosh Yugi, I don't know what to say." Mokuba told him.  
  
"Say goodbye." Kaiba said as he came aboard the Pegasus. "We're leaving these losers now Mokuba. Tell you girlfriend to pack her stuff. "  
  
"Pack my stuff?" Rebecca asked. "You mean I have to come over to your ship?"  
  
"You don't have to, but you can if you want to." Mokuba told her. Rebecca looked around at her friends and then at her new love.  
  
"Okay, I'll go pack." She said and floated off to the crew quarters where her things were stashed.  
  
"You know Seto, you don't have to be so cold." Serenity reminded him. "Besides which, she doesn't have to stay over there anymore than I do."  
  
"Fine, whatever, but Mokuba and I are going back to our ship." Kaiba stated then took his little brother by the hand.  
  
"Sorry guys." Mokuba said and then followed his older brother to the hatch. Rebecca and Serenity just barely made it in before Kaiba closed the hatch and disconnected the Blue Eyes One from the Pegasus's hull.  
  
"Well. There they go." Yugi said watching the small shuttle fly off back to it's mother ship.  
  
"Yeah, they looked so happy together. Mokuba and Rebecca." Tea said. "Speaking of happy couples, you and I have a honeymoon to get back to." Yugi blushed as Tea led him off seductively towards their cabin and the others just smiled. 


	8. Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven.  
  
On distant lush, green planet, there lived an advanced subterranean race of beings who's mental and telepathic abilities had reached the maximum level of evolution. A race of people called the Zorgs. Their planet, Zorg Prime was the 4th planet in their solar system and three moons which circled it were bases for their military. On one such moon the Zorg soldiers were on high alert as their deep space radar had picked up an approaching fleet of ships. Ships baring heavy machinery, and from what they could tell, hundreds of people aboard. This could only mean one thing to them. Invasion. Some distant dwelling race of aliens was coming to invade their world and ravage it as they probably had done their own.  
  
"There is only one thing we can do." The Zorg Ruling Council agreed. "We must prepare for war. They clearly intend to invade our planet or else they would he heading to one of the other unpopulated planets further away from here. We must defend ourselves. Launch the space ships and engage them before they reach our planet." The ships were launched, all one hundred and eighty of them. The Entire Zorg Prime Defense fleet and the immediately set an intercept course for the much smaller fleet of ships heading their way.  
  
------Scene Break-------  
  
"Mokuba and Rebecca make such a cute little couple!" Serentiy exclaimed as tied Kaiba's tie and brushed a stray hair off of his shoulder. "We make a nice couple too and the four of us make such a nice little family, don't you think?"  
  
"Yes, but do we have to have a picture taken to prove it?" Kaiba asked as the air was being chocked out him by the tight neck tie. He reached up and loosened it just as Serenity bent down to tie Mokuba's bow tie. He and his brother were wearing matching blue suits with some minor little touches to give them that distinct flair that the Kaiba brothers enjoyed so much. Both Serenity and Rebecca were dressed up nice in matching dresses and both had applied a lot of makeup.  
  
"Okay we're all ready. I can't wait to show this picture to my grandpa when he thaws out." Rebecca said taking Mokuba's arm and standing next to him. Behind them Kaiba and Serenity stood together and side-by-side with their arms linked. Kaiba felt like such a spectacle but if it made Serenity happy then he was willing to do it. Weevil and Rex meanwhile were fighting over the camera and over who was going to take the picture.  
  
"It should be me!" Weevil insisted, "I have the best eye for taking photographs, Dino brain!"  
  
"Yeah but Kaiba gave me the Camera to hold, so I get to take the picture, Bug boy!"  
  
"Will one of you just take the picture already?" Kaiba commanded loosing his tie again, "I'm getting hot in this thing."  
  
"Okay you hold it and I'll press the button." Weevil and Rex agreed. Just as they were about to take the picture though, a dozen bells, alarms, sirens, and whistles began to go off around them.  
  
"What's going on?" Serenity asked, panicking.  
  
"We're under attack!" Kaiba exclaimed. "Everyone back to your posts!" Everyone on the bridge scattered and ran back to their positions and stations. "Put it up on the main view screen." To Kaiba's surprise his deep space probes had picked up an approaching Armada of Attack Ships.  
  
"Where did they come from?" Rex asked.  
  
"Projected course suggests that they originated from one of the moons in the system we're approaching." Rebecca informed them all.  
  
"Blast, the planet we're heading for must still be inhabited." Kaiba realized. "Well, it looks as if we've got a fight on our hands, contact the other ships, and have them prepare for battle." He commanded. There was just one problem as Kaiba would soon learn. Only the Kaiba Corp. ships were equipped with weapons. The Industrial Illusions ships were only equipped with the high frequency shielding technology but even that wouldn't protect them from solid projectiles. Only lasers would be ineffective against the energy shields.  
  
"I can't believe you're telling me this now of all times." Kaiba said, outraged.  
  
"Well Kaiba boy, it never seemed like it was going to be a big problem." Pegasus told him. "After all, who would have supposed that there was life outside our own in the universe?"  
  
"I supposed it, because I knew the odds, and I always play the low end of the odds just in case. Now my ships are going to have to assume defensive formations around your ships just to keep them safe. We should be able to attack them head on being that our ships are smaller and more maneuverable but because our potential fire power is halved, we're going to have to play this on defense."  
  
"Or we could try talking to them." Little Yugi said over the radio.  
  
"Are you crazy?" Kaiba asked him.  
  
"No, just hopeful. I mean we don't have to get ourselves into a fight that we obviously can't win." He explained himself. Kaiba had to admit that he was right, they couldn't win this fight, no matter what. They were outnumbered, outgunned, and outclassed. Those were probably professional soldiers aboard those enemy vessels and if they had to they would destroy their entire fleet before allowing them any closer to their home world. Yugi was right, no matter how much Kaiba hated to admit it, they would have to try talking their way out of a fight.  
  
"Very well, Yugi I'm placing you in charge of the negotiations. So if you fail, and we all get killed, it won't be my name the people of this fleet will curse with their dieing breath."  
  
-------Scene Break--------  
  
"Okay, Pegasus, can we get closer to their lead ship?" Yugi asked as he sat on the bridge of the Pegasus.  
  
"I'm sure we could." Pegasus replied from the command chair.  
  
"What's your plan Yugi?" Kaiba asked over the radio.  
  
"We take this ship, with no weapons, and show them that we're no threat to them. Then once we've established contact, we tell them our plight. That's if we can communicate with them."  
  
"Like I said, it's on your head if you fail." Kaiba replied and then switched his Radio off.  
  
"So what do we do now Yugi?" Joey asked from his station.  
  
"We go forward and intercept those ships before they attack our fleet." Yugi said and so the Pegasus left the rest of the fleet behind and with no weapons to protect them. The crew was terribly uncertain of whether or not they would succeed but they knew that they had to try or else everyone would die.  
  
----------Scene Break------------  
  
"Commander, we're receiving strange audio signals from one of their lead ships approaching our space." Said the Communications Officer aboard the Zorg Flag ship.  
  
"What kind of Audio signals and from which ship?" The Fleet Commander asked.  
  
"From the ship approaching us sir. It' seems to be hailing us but I can't decipher what their saying. It's in a language not known to our computer data base." The Communications Officer replied.  
  
"Then scan their data base, scan their entire ship, and give me a print out of the capabilities." The Fleet Commander ordered.  
  
"Scanning." Reported the Science Officer. "Picking up no signs of weapons of any known class, minimum shields, and their data base is small compared to ours. Their entire system seems to be reserved for running the primary functions of their ship. There is one thing though, their ship's computers seem to be running on a variation of our own computer primer codes. It may be possible for us to contact them using this variation of the old codes."  
  
"Then send them a warning signal telling all their ships to turn back or they will be destroyed. Make sure they have ample time to decode the transmission and reply." The Fleet Commander ordered. The Science Officer and the Communications Officer working together devised a message to send to invading ships.  
  
--------Scene Break--------  
  
"Any reply to our hails?" Yugi asked Tristan.  
  
"No, sorry man, they must not get what we're trying to say to them."  
  
"If only Rebecca were here, she'd know what to do, other than just sending them meaningless gibberish that is."  
  
"You were saying?" Came a voice over the radio.  
  
"Rebecca!" Yugi exclaimed. "Have you been listening in on us?" He asked her over the radio.  
  
"Sure, have, you're line's been open since you spoke with Kaiba. Now as far as being able to communicate with aliens, I'm not sure that I can do that, but I can try and decipher any response they send back."  
  
"Hey guys, we're getting one now on another frequency. It's not audio though, it's coming in like an internet signal." Tristan informed them.  
  
"Let me hear it?" Rebecca asked. She put her headphones on and listened and it sounded just like the sound a modem makes when it's trying to online and talk to another computer. "They're talking to us guys, and they've got lots to say. They're using Binary."  
  
"Binary?" Joey asked. "What's that?"  
  
"That's the language of computers." Rebecca told them all. "When one computer contacts another they use a language comprised of a series of ones and zeros. When information is broken down it takes this form and when it's reassembled it looks just as it's was sent."  
  
"So what are they saying?" Tea asked.  
  
"Give me a moment to decipher the message with my computer, guys." Rebecca replied. "Okay done." She said after a moment. "It says quite plainly that if we do not turn back we will be destroyed."  
  
"I was afraid that's what it would say." Yugi said.  
  
"Better let me take over now, Yugi." Yami said. "This situation calls for tact and diplomacy, in which, I am well skilled."  
  
"Okay, but Yami, we're in a real bind here. We'll have to rely on skills that you haven't used in thousands of years." Yugi said to him. "But here goes. YUGIOH!" In that instant Yugi Mouto and Yami merged to become Yugioh. "Put me through on a direct channel with them and let everything I say be converted into binary." Yugioh said.  
  
"Sure thing." Replied Rebecca, over the radio.  
  
"Good people we implore you, hear us out." Yugioh began to say. "We are a people who have lost our world to cataclysm and fate. We travel amongst the stars hoping only to find a world where we can live peacefully and thrive as we once did. We are strangers, the poor beggars, and the homeless. We are not your enemies, we can not hope to match you, but what we can offer you in exchange for your help may prove quite worth wild." Suddenly then, over the radio, came a reply.  
  
"We hear your words now." Said a gargled electronic voice. "We hear and we understand. You are nomads with no intentions of taking our world from us. We are sorry for any misunderstanding but as you know we must defend what is ours from those who would take it from us."  
  
"We understand." Yugioh replied. "We would not act any differently but as I said we are needy. We have no fuel to continue any further than your world. We would be willing to trade what little we have if you would but agree to let us land safely on your world to conduct repairs on our ships and refuel."  
  
"We will escort you to our refueling station on our planet's third moon. There you may land and present your case to our Ruling Council." The electronic voice said. They had no choice but to accept much to Kaiba's disliking. He did not like being called a beggar and homeless and especially not needy.  
  
"I hope that you know what your doing, Yugi." Kaiba said over the radio.  
  
"It may at times be preferable to negotiate from a position of strength, Kiaba, however we are not in that position. They are and we must present ourselves as humbly as possible or else we may find ourselves on the receiving end of something worse than death." Yugioh told him. The Zorg Armada turned around and waited for the Kaiba Corp. and Industrial Illusions fleets to catch up then they escorted them all back to their refueling station where the ships were all docked and the Blue Eyes One was launched to take Yugioh, Kaiba, and Pegasus down to the surface of the planet where they had an audience with the Zorg Ruling Council. 


	9. Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight.  
  
Yugioh, Kaiba, and Pegasus stood within a great chamber of lights and gray circles with pillars of stone and a flat table over which was darkened out. The light could not penetrate the darkness over the table and therefore they could not see beyond it.  
  
"Are these the leaders of the invading army?" Asked a voice from beyond the darkness.  
  
"They are." Replied a voice from behind the trio.  
  
"Hold on just a moment!" Pegasus objected.  
  
"Yes," Yugioh said "We're not invaders and we don't have any army with us. As I told your Fleet Commander before, we are Pilgrims, searching for a home."  
  
"So you say." Said another voice, which seemed to come from out of nowhere. "How can we trust you though when you are strange to us, and we no not the circumstances of how you came to be in search of a new home?"  
  
"We have nothing to hide." Said Yugioh. "We come in peace and as you've seen, our weapons are no match for your own. Our engines are damaged and we are out of fuel. We need help to continue on our journey."  
  
"This one speaks true?" Asked the First voice.  
  
"We have scanned their fleet and found that they are in deed out of fuel and in need of repairs." Said the Second voice.  
  
"Then if we render assistance to you, will you be gone from our world, and never return?" Asked the Third voice.  
  
"Nothing would make me happier." Kaiba answered. He was growing impatient in the background. He was not going let Yugi speak for him for much longer.  
  
"What will you offer in exchange for our help?" Asked a Fourth Voice this time seeming to come from above.  
  
"Whatever we can spare." Pegasus replied.  
  
"What could they possibly have that would interest us?" Asked the Third voice.  
  
"We have precious little." Pegasus admitted. "But I'm sure we could come up with something that would be worth it for you."  
  
"I believe I have an idea of how they may render payment." Said the Fourth voice from above. "It will soon be time for the great games to come again will it not?" He asked the others.  
  
"Yes, yes." The other voices agreed.  
  
"Then would it not be interesting to see how well these creatures fair in the great games, and if they fare well, then would it not be most worth our wild to send them on their way in good order?" The other voices agreed with the Fourth voice and then further more they made Yugioh, Kaiba, and Pegasus an offer to tempt them into the games. "We will allow you the challengers to choose the game we will play and to have as many players as you wish against us."  
  
"Against you, the council?" Pegasus asked.  
  
"This is perfect, we've got them right in the palms of our hands." Kaiba said to himself.  
  
"I don't like this, it smells fishy." Yugioh said out loud. "And what if we loose the great games?"  
  
"Then you and your people will be sent on your way without our aide to face you fate as it comes to you." Said a yet another voice, this time from below them."  
  
"What should we do?" Pegasus asked.  
  
"We take them up on their offer." Kaiba said.  
"I don't think that we know what it is that we're dealing with here." Yugioh warned. "Something tells me that these Zorg as they call themselves are more than what they seem. We have never seen one of them since we've been here. Remember there was no escort for us on the way down and we were lead here by signs and not a living soul to be found."  
  
"This is too good an opportunity to pass up, Yugi." Kaiba told him. "We've got the top duelists in all the universe with us and enough duel monsters card technology to cream these clowns." Kaiba turned back to the darkness and with as few as two words accepted their challenge.  
  
"Excellent." Said all the voices at once. "And the name of your game?"  
  
"Duel Monsters." Kaiba replied. "Now tell us what kind of preparations we should make to accommodate you with our game technology."  
  
"It will not simply be us of the council you must compete against but the best gamers of our world. We will need one of your computers with uplinks to your ship's database and it must be programmed with all the information regarding your Duel Monsters game and all it's characters." The Fifth Voice said. "Any attempts to cheat us will result in an automatic loss and you will be sent back into space with your ships as they are."  
  
"Fare enough." Yugioh said. "Now may I ask where we shall be dueling?" Suddenly the floor beneath them began to shake and shift about. The room widened and the floor began to move upwards at an incredible speed until it came to a stop in what seemed an even darker room. Then suddenly the sealing above them opened up into daylight and they saw that they were inside of a great Coliseum. It was empty now except for Yugioh, Kaiba, Pegasus and the Council whom they now saw revealed in their earthly forms.  
  
They stood ten feet tall wearing robes of bright colors for their skin was deathly white and their their eyes pink. They were all bald with no body hair whatsoever and their arms and legs were as big around as trees.  
  
"Quite an imposing sight, are we not?" Asked the First one. The trio stood in awe of their opponents.  
  
"You're a race of giants?" Pegasus asked.  
  
"To you we may appear quite large which is what we wished. We do not actually look this way but the effect that this form gives is intimidating and that is what we wish to portray." Said the Third one.  
  
"I see." Yugioh said. "Your true forms are hidden from us. For you have evolved to a point to where your mortal bodies are no longer of any use to you so you use your mental powers to portray yourselves as whatever you want."  
  
"This one is very clever." Said the Fifth one. "I will make a wager on this one. I wager seven warthanks that this one with the huge hair will make us an excellent challenge."  
  
"I will wager nine warthanks against." Said the First one. "I do not think his cleverness will allow him to beat one of us."  
  
"Then it's agreed." The Fifth one said. "We shall all retire now and prepare for the games." And so it was that Yugioh, Kaiba, and Pegasus left the planet to return to their ships and their friends to inform them of the great challenge which lay before them and to deliver to the Zorg Council one of their ship's computers with all the accumulated data on Duel Monsters programmed into it's banks.  
  
-------Scene Break--------  
  
"This is going to be a piece of cake." Kaiba said as they flew the Blue Eyes one back into port with the other ships. They docked with the Blue Eyes two and then shuttled everyone else over for a conference in the Captain's briefing room. "Here's how it's going to go down." He told them all. "Our best duelists will face the Aliens in one on one Duel Monsters style. Naturally, I'll start things off, then Yugi, the Pegasus…"  
  
"Wait just a moment there Kaiba boy. I'm not dueling." Pegasus said.  
  
"What?" Everyone exclaimed.  
  
"That's right, I'm a spectator now, and besides I left my deck in my other pants." He joked.  
  
"Fine then we'll just replace you with…" Kaiba was about to say when Joey jumped in.  
  
"Me!" He declared. "I'll step up to the plate."  
  
"No way Wheeler!" Kaiba shouted. "We need good duelists out there to face these Aliens and their mental powers. Which is why my brother Mokuba will be taking Pegasus's spot."  
  
"What, me?" Mokuba asked, surprised.  
  
"You beat Yugi with one of his own cards and took that card from him." Kaiba stated. "If you can do that then you can face an Alien monster with no prior dueling experience. Now that leaves two spot open and I think that Ryou should fill one of them."  
  
"I'll be glad to help." Ryou said, "Just as long as I'm not called upon to use the power of my Millennium Item. It's too powerful for me to control and we've all seen what happens when I use it."  
  
"Point taken." Kaiba agreed. "Now that just leaves our little Miss Duel Monsters Protégée."  
  
"Um that's going to be a problem." Rebecca said. "I kind of don't have my deck with me. I left it back on Earth."  
  
"What!" Everyone exclaimed together. "How could you do that Rebecca?" Yugioh asked.  
  
"I was mad and so I threw it away. Even the card that you gave me Yugi, I don't have a single one left. Mokuba's tried to help me put a new one together but none of the cards seem right."  
  
"Don't worry Rebecca." Pegasus said placing a hand on her shoulder. "I'll help you build a deck you can be proud of. I've got card galore aboard my ship, and some that have never been seen before. Just tell me what kind of deck you'd like and I'll find the cards for you."  
  
"Gosh, thanks Mr. Pegasus but I think that I'd like one like everyone's." She said. "I want a little of everyone's deck in mine so that all my friends will be with me out there on the battlefield."  
  
"Please, give me a break." Kaiba said. "In any case, we'll keep Wheeler, Tea, Duke, and Mai in reserve incase anyone of us can't continue on or incase they surprise us and want to add some more of their people to the list." They had their game plan together and now it was time to practice. Their alien counterparts would certainly be practicing as hard as possible in order beat the creators of the game they would be playing. The group split up then to find some small corner of the ship to battle in where their moves would go unnoticed.  
  
"Pegasus," Yugioh said walking over to him. "May I ask a favor of you?"  
  
"Anything for you Yugi Boy." He replied.  
  
"Could you have this card repaired before the tournament?" Yugioh handed Pegasus the card and he gasped.  
  
"Yugi, this card is… But you have the Egyptian God Cards. Why do you want this one repaired?" He wanted to know.  
  
"It's a gift for a friend." He said. "I'll need duplicates made of these cards too." Yugioh handed over his Dark Magician, Spellbinding Circle, Light Force Sword, and Swords of Revealing Light.  
  
"I'll do what I can with the equipment that I brought with me but why these particular cards?" Pegasus asked.  
  
"They are the best in my deck and I want someone else we both care for to have all the help she can get."  
  
"You mean Rebecca. Yugi, she's going to be fine. I'll give her some of my best cards also. Don't worry, I'll take good care of her for you."  
  
"Not for me, for Mokuba. Look at them over there." Yugioh pointed out. Mokuba and his brother were dueling each other for practice and Rebecca was cheering Mokuba on while Serenity cheered for Kaiba. It was encouraging to see the brothers and their girlfriends in such a good mood. It made their circumstances seem less tragic and their out look on the future less bleak. "Together we are all the future of the Human race, and we must do all we can to insure our victory, or else we'll parish into darkness with the planet we escaped from."  
  
"I understand." Pegasus said then took his leave. He had work to do in order to get the new cards ready.  
  
-------Scene Break-------  
  
"They have delivered the computer." Said one member of the Council.  
  
"Excellent. Now begin the assimilation of data." They walked over to the computer terminal and interfaced with it.  
  
"Interesting. I think that I shall formulate my deck to suit the water species of their home planet." Said the First One.  
  
"I have chosen Fire." Said the Second One. "I have chosen Machines." Said the Third One.  
  
"I will choose these creatures called Grave Keepers." Said the Fourth One.  
  
"I have chosen warriors." Said the Fifth One.  
  
"Then it is finished." Said the First one. "We shall now commence dueling each other to prepare ourselves for the odd rules which govern this game. There are many and we must go by the book completely if we are to win our victory against the Earthlings."  
  
------Scene Break-------  
  
Pegasus toiled away for hours making the new cards for Yugi. Aboard the ship which bore the name of his deceased wife Cecilia, he'd stored his card manufacturing equipment, and his art studio. To recreate the cards which he'd been given was hard work indeed for a man of his advancing years. Yes, he was getting older now, no longer youthful, and no longer able to see the great love of his life from afar.  
  
"Oh Cecilia, I'm finished." He said at last. "I've remade the fourth Blue Eyes White Dragon and now I've got the cards I need to make young Rebecca her new deck." He took the picture of his dead wife in his hands and kissed it for luck. "We're sure to win now that we've restored this great beast to life. Yes, the Blue Eyes White Dragon number 4 will live again."  
  
------Scene Break------  
  
"Kaiba." Yugi said stepping onto the bridge of the Blue Eyes Two. "I've got something for you."  
  
"What's that Yugi, another piece of useless information like I should believe in the heart of the cards or other such nonsense?" Kaiba asked him.  
  
"No, it's an old friend of yours, you'll need him for the games." He said and handed Kaiba Obelisk The Tormentor.  
  
"What's the meaning of this?" Kaiba asked.  
  
"You'll need him before the end of this, and besides, I gave The Winged Dragon of Ra to Mokuba."  
  
"In other words you broke up a set and it doesn't work for you anymore. I'll take you handout this time, Yugi, but don't expect me to just give Obelisk back when I'm done."  
  
"I didn't expect you to." Yugi replied then turned around to leave.  
  
"Hey Yugi!" Mokuba shouted to him from the bridge, "My brother's really very grateful." 


	10. Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine.  
  
"Well Yami, it's time for yet another Duel Monsters Battle to determine the fate of Humanity. Are you up for it?" Yugi asked the Spirit of the Millennium Puzzle.  
  
"I am." Yami replied. "The question is are you?"  
  
"I don't know." Yugi replied. "I don't think that this will be as easy as Kaiba thinks it will be. I'm sure that these Aliens have some sort of trap set for us or something. I don't know, maybe I'm just being paranoid."  
  
"No, it's good that you don't fully trust them, and that's because they have not given us reason to. They're playing games with the fate of an entire race and wagering money on us. I wouldn't call them evil, but they are not what I would a benevolent people." Yami said to his young partner. "I've been around for thousands of years Yugi, I know that things seem hard right now. Even I could not foresee the destruction of our entire planet but I could always foresee that you would be there to guard our people against wrong doing."  
  
"Our people?" Yugi asked.  
  
"Yes, Yugi, our people. As Pharaoh we have a duty to lead our people to the new world and see that humanity gets off to good, new start."  
  
"You're right, Yami. Let's go. YUGIOH!" They merged and Yugioh left his quarters aboard the Pegasus to join the rest of his team aboard the Blue Eyes Two. "Are we ready?" He asked when stepped onto the bridge of the ship.  
  
"We are." Kaiba replied. "Let's go, the Blue Eyes One is fueled up and ready to go. The rest of us will have to wait here and watch the tournament from the view screen though. We have precious little room aboard the Blue Eyes One and that's reserved for our team members."  
  
"And don't forget our Coach." Said Pegasus as he joined them. I'm coming down with you all to see that this Tournament gets off to a good start. After all, someone has to keep an eye on the rules and make sure that everything is done by the book."  
  
"You think that those aliens guys will try to cheat us?" Mokuba asked.  
  
"I don't know, but if they do, I'll be there." Pegasus told them all. "Oh, Rebecca, come here."  
  
"Me?" She walked up to Pegasus and he handed her the cards.  
  
"Take these cards, you'll need them. And that reminds me, here you go Yugi, here are your cards back." He handed Yugioh his cards back and then watched as the two young duelists shuffled their decks for the match.  
  
"Now that all the sentimental crap is over with, lets' go." Kaiba said then lead the team down to the main hatch where the Blue Eyes one was docked. The ship soared down from space and landed in a field outside the Coliseum. There Kaiba, Yugioh, Mokuba, Rebecca, Ryou, Joey, and Mai disembarked for the long walk to the Arena. They trekked across the field for about half a mile then when they reached the Coliseum they were ushered by two armed guards to the Arena where they found opponents waiting for them.  
  
"According to the rules we must give you our names before we begin." Said the First One of the Council. "I am Zelif the Peace Maker." He said in his deep voice.  
  
"I am Zeanif the Star Gazer." Said the Second One.  
  
"I am Zerif the Great Enforcer." Said the Third One.  
  
"I am Zonif the Overseer." Said the Fourth One.  
  
"And I am Zealifo the Destroyer of Armies." Said the Fifth One.  
  
"Let us begin by drawing lots from the numerator." Said Zelif as a great machine rose up from the floor of the Arena. From it several numbers came out into a bowel and each member of the Zorg Council took one. Their numbers were all odd from 1to5. That meant that Yugioh and the other's would be even from 2 to 10.  
  
"Well, I suppose it's our turn." Mokuba said as he went forward. He reached into the bowel and took a number, His was number 2.  
  
"You and I shall face of against one another young one." Said Zeanif. Kaiba went next and drew an 8, then Yogioh who drew a 4, then Ryou who drew 6, then Rebecca who drew 10.  
  
"Excellent, we each have drawn the opponent we have hoped for." Said Zelif. I have draw the corresponding number with yours little Yugi."  
  
"Interesting luck wouldn't you say?" Yugioh asked.  
  
"There was no luck involved, we programmed the numerator to dispense the numbers according to chance." Replied Zeanif. "Come now, on to our game." Zeanif towered over Mokuba as they extended their hands to shake. Zeanif's enormous hand engulfed Mokuba's. Then they went to their respective sides of the arena. "If you don't mind," Zeanif said, "I'll start things off with one card face down in defense mode, and a Magic card, called Hinotoma, which decreases your life points by 500." Mokuba's life point counter went down 500 points as the fire balls appeared and pummeled the ground around him.  
  
-------------Scene Break-------------  
  
"So, explain to me somethin', how can they summon card with out a Duel Disk?" Joey asked from the sidelines.  
  
"It's really quite simple," Rebecca replied, "Their mental abilities are so far advanced that they can literally conjure up images from their mind; making the Duel Monsters and others as real as you or I."  
  
-----------Scene Break--------------  
  
"I play Destroyer Golem and lay one card face down," Mokuba said as the huge rock creature appeared. As the Golem's feet stomped on the ground, the arena shook as if the very ground beneath it was about to give way.  
  
"Impressive, child," Zeanif said, "But now it is my turn, and I draw one card." The card flew from the deck to his hand. He glanced at it, then declared, "I will lay this one face down and play another Magic card. Ookazi, which takes 800 of your life points." A ring of fire erupted around Mokuba, and the boy covered his mouth to keep form inhaling smoke. When the flames died down, it was Mokuba's turn. His life point counter was 800 points shorter.  
  
"This will get the job done," Mokuba said, "I sacrifice Destroyer Golem to call Enraged Muka Muka." The disgusting smoldering creature replaced the Golem immediately.  
  
"You sacrifice a strong monster for a weaker one?" Zeanif asked.  
  
"It's stronger than you think," Mokuba said, "Because My Muka Muka gets 400 points per card in my hand. Now I play Jar of greed, making my monster stronger still." Muka Muka's points increased to 2400 as Mokuba drew his card. Then the boy smiled, and said, "Now, I'll attack your face down card!" Muka Muka's belly enlarged, glowing red, then, the creature open it's jaws, and spewed molten lava at Zeanif's card.  
  
"You've activated my trap," Zeanif said calmly- very differently from the shouts and yells most other duelists ever made- then he said, "As well as the effect of my face down card. I discard the two cards in my hand to the graveyard to inflict 800 points direct damage to you. And next, my trap card, will inflict 500 points direct damage to you for the Fire monster you destroyed. And it will continue to do so for every one of my Fire monsters you destroy."  
  
Mokuba was hit with a barrage of fire and smoke as his life points plummeted.  
  
--------------Scene Break------------  
  
"Oh no!" cried Rebecca, "Mokuba's down to 1400! Come on, sweety! You can beat him!"  
  
---------------Scene Break------------  
  
"Mokuba wiped the soot off of his blushing face, and drew a card. "I lay a card facedown, and atack your life points with Muka Muka!" the boy declared. The monster's belly swelled and shot out lava again, this time covering Zeanif from head to toe. Everyone gasped, but then suddenly the lava hardened and broke apart. Zeanif emerged, his skin burned, and his life points dropped until it was almost equal with Mokuba's.  
  
"My turn, child," Zeanif said, drawing a card. He laid a card face down, but before he ended his turn, Mokuba unveiled his trap.  
  
"I play the Trap card, Gift of the Mystical Elf!" Suddenly, the beautiful Mystical Elf appeared before them, and she began to murmur an ancient tongue. Then, a whirlwind of magic swirled around Mokuba, and his life went up. "I get 300 life points per monster on the field. Now, it's my turn." Mokuba drew a card, and said, "Now, I remove Destoyer Golem from play to summon Gigantes in attack mode!" Immediately a creature with a horn on it's brow and blood red skin appeared, and it roared with great fury. "I attack your face down monster with Muka, and your life points with Gigantes. Go guys!" Mokuba commanded. Muka spewed more lava over the facedown card, but even as Mokuba's life points dropped 500, Gigantes ran forward, and using the trunk of a tree, it hurled Zeanif back against the wall. His life points dropped to zero, and Mokuba's friends all cheered.  
  
"I won!" Mokuba cheered. "I actually won!"  
  
"Oh Mokuba, I'm so proud!" Rebecca cried as she threw her arms around him.  
  
"Pretty good there, squirt," Joey said, patting Mokuba on the back.  
  
"Have you forgotten?" Zeanif croaked as he struggled to rise. "You have not won the full challenge yet. There are still four more of my fellow counsel men to face. I may not have been a fitting adversary for you, but that does not mean that they are any easier to defeat."  
  
"Yeah, yeah, keep talkin' buddy," Joey said. "Mokuba cleaned your clock."  
  
"Well, to be fair, guys, they are just beginners." Mokuba said.  
  
"Which means the others don't stand a chance against Yugi or your brother," Rebecca said.  
  
"Boast while you can," Zeanif said, "It will be your undoing."  
  
"Yeah right, my little brother is the least experienced of us and he beat you. We're ready for anything that the five of you throw at us." Kaiba boasted.  
  
"Then on to the next match." Said Zelif. "I believe I drew the number 3 and the one called Yugi drew the number 4."  
  
"I did." Yugioh replied. "Let us begin." He and Zelif walked out to the center of the Arena and shook hands then as one of the guards helped Zeanif away to the side likes, they took up their stations on opposite sides of the field. "Because our team won the last round, you can go first."  
  
"Excellent." Zelif drew five cards and looked at his hand. Not bad, he thought, he'd drawn several of the cards he would need but he would have to wait to use them. "I'll play Sea Serpent Warrior of Darkness in attack mode and play one more card face down to support it. Now I also play Umi, which increases the attack of my monster by 200 points, and end my turn."  
  
"Fine." Yugioh looked at the hands he had drawn. The heart of the cards was guiding him again and he could feel the power in his deck. "I play Celtic Guardian in attack mode, and now I play one card face down. I end my turn."  
  
"Predictable." Zelif said. "You think to trick me into not attacking. Your face down card may indeed be a trap but I doubt that it will hurt me. You think on multiple levels Yugi, and therefore brilliant but I too think on multiple levels and I researched you deck before I came to this Arena. I wanted to face you and find out for myself just how good you really are. Now I see, you are as I hoped you would be. But as I said, you are still being too predictable. Playing a lesser monster against a superior one can only mean you wish me to attack but I would think better and therefore not. That would have been logical. I will, however, attack your monster and trigger your trap. Go my Sea Serpent, attack his Celtic Guardian!"  
  
The monsters moved to battle one another but in the end, the Sea Serpent Warrior of Darkness proved the stronger monster and Yugi's trap was activated.  
  
"Solemn wishes is activated." Yugioh said. "Now when I draw a card my life points will increase. And though I loose 600 points from your attack, I will gain 500 back on my turn."  
  
"Clever move, but it will not save you, and I can see this card's effect is doubled by two cards in your deck. Can you draw them though?" Zelif asked.  
  
"We shall see." Yugioh replied as he drew a card. His life points went back up five hundred points and then he saw his opportunity. "I play Graceful Charity and draw three cards from my deck." What luck Yugioh thought as he beheld the cards he'd just drawn. He'd drawn Pot of Greed and his Egyptian God Card, Slifer The Sky Dragon. "Now I must discard two cards from my hand." He said. "And I play Pot of greed." His life points had already gone up 1500 points before now they went up another 1000 as he drew two more cards from his deck. "Now I will removed Mystical Elf and Feral Imp from play to summon the Chaos Sorcerer!"The black clad sorcerer appeared and with 2300 attack points he was more than a match for Zelif's Sea Serpent who only had 2000.  
  
"Very interesting move." Zelif said as his monster was dispatched with. "But you have activated my face down card. Torrential Tribute! This card destroys all face up monsters on the field." A tidal wave overwhelmed Yugioh's Chaos Sorcerer and destroyed him. "And now it is my turn." Zelif drew his card. He was presenting a more formidable opposition than either Yugi or Yami, or any of them had expected. Yugioh had to keep both of his minds focused though. He would wait while Zelif made his move. "I play the Giant Red Sea Snake in Attack mode and strike your life points with 2000 points of attack!" He declared.  
  
Yugioh's life points plummeted down to 4400. Neither of them had gone down below the 4000 mark and it looked that this would be a longer and more drawn out duel indeed. Unless of course he could use the cards in his hand to summon his Egyptian God Card.  
  
"Interesting move wouldn't you say, now I play one more card face down." Now Zelif was being boastful.  
  
"My turn." Yugioh said as he drew a card his life points went up. "Ameba , no help there, the controller of this card loses life points. I can however summon this monster." Yugioh said as laid down a magic card called Premature Burial. "Feral Imp returns to my side of the field and all it costs me is 800 life points.. Now I also play Monster Reborn to bring back your Sea Serpent Warrior of Darkness. He's my monster now." Yugioh said as the two monsters appeared. "Now one more magic card and I'll have all the monsters I need. The Shallow Grave Card allows both of us to summon a monster from our graveyards, but since I've already summoned your only monster from your graveyard…"  
  
"Yes I know, I don't have any to summon. Very nicely done." Zelif said.  
  
"I have three monsters on the field and now I can sacrifice them all." Yugioh said. "I play my Egyptian God Card. Slifer the Sky Dragon!" The ground rumbled and the planet shook as lightning appeared in the sky above. From the clouds descended a great monster. The Sky Dragon of the gods. Slifer had been summoned to the field and he had 2000 attack points, the same as Zelif's monster.  
  
"I am impressed." Zelif told Yugioh. "But as I said before, predictable." "What?" Yugioh exclaimed.  
  
"Yes, I have a card face down on the field which should handle your monster. It's a quick play magic card called Big Wave Small Wave. What that does is it allows me to destroy both our monsters on the field and then I can summon one monster from my hand." Yugioh gasped as two waves covered the field and took both Slifer and the Red Sea Snake away and in their place was new creature clad in Armor made entirely of Ice appeared. "Meet Mobius the Frost Monarch, and he has 2400 attack points plus Umi, which makes for a total of 2600 attack points which on my turn, you'll feel the wrath of." Yugioh had not choice, he had to end his turn.  
  
"It's your turn now Zelif, but I am not so easily defeated."  
  
"As I've seen from the date collected from your past duels. I certainly hope so because to tell you the truth Yugi, I would love to be able to help your people. I would hope that you could win this duel and the tournament so that we can work together to save your people. That is why I am called the Peace Maker."  
  
"I see, then you bare me no ill will." Yugioh observed.  
  
"No, I do not, but I do expect an honorable duel from you. It's my turn and I draw one card. I equip Mobius with The Power of Kaishin." A silver trident appeared in the monster's icy palm and he gripped tightly as his attack points rose to 2900. "Now Yugi, I will attack you." Mobius went forth, gliding on a sheet of ice towards Yugioh and attacked him directly. His life points when down to 1200 and Mobius retreated to the other side of the field. "I end my turn." Zelif said then.  
  
"I draw." Yugioh said, panting. His life points rose to 1700 but with nothing to protect his life points he would loose on the turn after this. "I have to play this card face down in defense mode or I'll loose." He said. "And this card face down."  
  
"If that is your turn, then so be it." Zelif said and drew his next card. "Mystical Space Typhoon, this could win me the duel right now, but do I really want that?" He asked himself. "No, I must give Yugi another chance." He decided. "I will attack you head on!" Zelif declared. "Mobius, attack his face down monster!"  
  
"Not so fast!" Yugioh cried. "Reveal face down card, Magical Hats!" Over his monster appeared a single hat which then multiplied into four hats. "Now you must guess under which hat my creature lays."  
  
"Now this is interesting. I've actually been hoping that you would use this strategy. Which hat do I choose?" Zelif looked at them all and wondered. "The one of the far left." He said. "Mobius, attack!" The Frost Monarch went forwards again and struck at the hat on the far left which in the end turned out to be empty. "You're safe for now." He said. Yugioh sighed a great sigh of relief. Magical hats had saved him again.  
  
"Now it is my turn again." Yugioh said then drew. His life points went up from 1700 to 2200, that was encouraging. Black Luster Ritual was the card he drew and so he ended his turn. Zelif drew a card then took his next turn. Again the hat he chose was empty. Yugioh's turn again.  
  
"Yami, this is probably the hardest duel we've ever fought." Yugi said to the Spirit in his mind.  
  
"Yes, but we can win, if we let the heart of the cards guide us." Yami replied. "I think we can win though, we've just drawn Buster Blader. He is exactly the card we need to summon one of our strongest monsters."  
  
"Yes, but can we do it?" Yugi asked.  
  
"We can." Yami replied. "I place one card down on the field and end my turn." Said Yugioh.  
"What are you planning my young friend?" Zelif asked as he drew his card. "I think that I shall start by increasing my monster's defense." He said and placed another equip magic card on the field. "Rod of Silence. And now I attack the hat on the right." Again he was wrong and it was Yugioh's turn." He gained another 500 life points with this drawing of a card from his deck and then he had what he needed. He just had to wait to summon it.  
  
"I'll spring my trap now!" Yugioh declared. "Or rather I should say my magic card. Mystic Box!" The box appeared around the last hat and then another box appeared on Zelif's side of the field, around Mobius.  
  
"I see, so you destroy my monster but give me control of the one you had. Is that correct?" He asked.  
  
"That is true, Zelif, you get control over Ameba!" The small single celled organism appeared larger than life on Zelif's side of the field and when it was flipped face up, as per Ameba's special ability, Zelif lost 2000 life points.  
  
"Very well played." He said to Yugioh. "And now finish me." He threw his cards aside and opened his arms wide to receive Yugioh's next move.  
  
"I play Black Luster Ritual and sacrifice from my hand Buster Blader, to summon forth the Black Luster Soldier in attack mode to destroy Ameba and the rest of your life points!" Black Luster Soldier appeared from the darkness and with his curved blade he went forth and sliced through Ameba straight through to Zelif's life points which dropped down to 0. Zelif laughed heartily and thought of how he could have won if only he'd played one card.  
  
"Never mind though," He said to himself. "Yugi, you played an excellent game. I believe that someone has won a great deal of currency off of you."  
  
"You were the one who placed the bet on me?" Yugioh asked.  
  
"I was." Zelif said. "I am proud to say that I did."  
  
"Then did you…"  
  
"Never you mind what I did. I played a good game and learned a lot from watching you play. You never gave up and never lost hope. That is the mark of a true sportsman." Zelif walked over to Yugioh's side of the field and extended his hand one more time. "I'm proud to have dueled against you."  
  
"Thank you." Yugioh replied and they shook hands as friends.  
  
---------Author's Note-----------  
  
This might be the last chapter for a few weeks, so review while you can! 


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten.  
  
Tea watched Yugi's duel with Zelif closely on the ship's monitor and there were times when she feared for her husband and for them all as it looked like Zelif might actually win the duel. Then when the duel was over and she watched the large Alien and little Yugi shake hands again she knew everything would be alright.  
  
"Kind of hard to just sit and watch, isn't it?" Serenity asked as he came up behind Tea and put her hand on her shoulder.  
  
"Yeah, I feel like I should be down there cheering them on like always." Tea replied.  
  
"I know, I'm just glad that my brother doesn't have to duel." Serenity said. "Having Seto caught up in the middle of this is hard enough. Let me ask you something."  
  
"Okay sure." Tea said.  
  
"Is it very different from being boy friend and girlfriend? Being married I mean." Serenity asked.  
  
"It's not just different, it's loads better." Tea told her. "Before it was like Yugi and I were two separate people who were off on our own. Now it's like we're one person. The day of our wedding, the two people known as Tea and Yugi ceased to be and in their place a new person was born. Made up of the two of us. We're one now and forever." Serenity was amazed by this revelation. Two people becoming one was like something that she had never heard of before. Then again, she was still very young, and her relationship with Seto Kaiba had not yet reached the same level of commitment as Yugi's and Tea's had.  
  
"I think that sounds really beautiful." Serenity told Tea after a moment of thought.  
  
"It is." Tea replied then turned back to the monitor. Next up was Ryou's duel and it was going to be a difficult one. He would be facing Zonif and there was no telling how good Zonif could be at Duel Monsters.  
  
---------Scene Break--------  
  
"Are you ready?" The spirit of the Ring asked.  
  
"I am and I don't need your help." Ryou said.  
  
"But you do need my help. You saw how even the great Yugi Mouto struggled against these Aliens. And no matter what you tell yourself, you're nowhere near as good a duelist as he is."  
  
"I can do this." Ryou said. "If I do need help you'll be there for me, right?"  
  
"I'm here for you now, if you want me, but don't come crying to me when you've almost lost."  
  
"I don't think that this is right but we have to win at any cost." Ryou decided. "Okay, take me." He gave himself over to the spirit of the Millennium Ring and they merged.  
  
-------Scene Break-------  
  
As he left the field, Yugioh saw the transformation in Ryou's eyes. They grew darker, colder, and devoid of feeling.  
  
"NO!" He cried. "Ryou don't!"  
  
"It's too late." Said the Spirit of the Ring as he passed Yugioh by. "I've taken over and now it's my turn to duel." The Spirit walked, in Ryou's body, up to his station on the field where he awaited his opponent.  
  
"I am Zonif." Said the Alien. "You are the one known as Ryou?"  
  
"Call me Bakura." Said the Spirit. "Let's duel." He neither shook hands with his opponent nor gave him a second glance until it was that they were standing across from one another on the dueling field.  
"I'll start things off this turn." He drew his five cards and looked at his hand. He smiled as it was promising.  
  
"Very well." Zonif replied. "It's your move."  
  
"Fine then, I play one card face down in defense mode and two more cards face down to support it." Bakura said and then ended his turn.  
  
"Hmm." Zonif looked at his own hand was not sure of what to do. He could not attack on his first turn but he could play magic and trap cards which could do the work of attacking for him.  
  
"Play one card face down also, and now I place two cards face down to support it, and I play this magic card, Grave Keeper's Servant. Now whenever a monster of mine does damage to your life points you must discard one card from your deck to the graveyard." Bakura smiled wickedly as he drew his next card.  
  
"I play Vengeful Bog Spirit." He said "And now I move my Giant Germ to attack mode. He has 1000 attack points, but he can't attack yet because of Vengeful Bog Spirit, but then neither can yours, for the first turn that they are face up on the field at least. That's the end of my turn."  
  
"I see, then I now draw a card and flip my Grave Keeper's Curse into face up attack mode." The dark robed minister of darkness appeared with a glowing rod in his hands. "When this monster is summoned, though he can't attack yet, he still takes 500 of your life points as per his special ability." Said Zonif and Bakura's life points dropped to 3500. "Now I play Necrovalley, a field magic card." Suddenly the field around them changed from that of an Arena to a desert valley with the Pyramids rising high in the distance. "Necrovalley raises my monster's attack points by 500 points, giving my Grave Keeper's Curse a total of 1300 points. More than enough to tangle with your Germ."  
  
"So what, it's still not powerful enough, I'll show you what real power looks like. My turn." Bakura said then drew a card. "Now here's a taste of your own medicine, I play Dark Energy and it increases my monster my 500 points."  
  
"Impressive." Zonif said, "But do you have the guts to attack me?"  
  
"I do and I will." Bakura replied. "Go my Germ, attack his Curse!" The gigantic germ floated across the field and began to absorb Grave Keeper's Curse when Zonif flipped over a trap card.  
  
"Cruse of Aging." He declared, "Your monster looses 500 attack points." The Giant Germ's points returned to 1000 points and would have been destroyed by the more powerful Grave Keeper's Curse if not for the fact that Bakura had also played a trap card.  
  
"Trap Jammer." He said flipping the card face up. "Your trap is negated." Grave Keeper's Curse was destroyed instead and then Zonif's life points dropped from 4000 to 3800.  
  
"Most impressive but it is my turn now and I assure you that I too am not so easily thwarted." He drew. "I play Tribute To The Doomed and discard Toll from my hand to destroy your Giant Germ."  
  
"That's fine, because when my Giant Germ is destroyed, my opponent looses 500 life points and I get to summon another Giant Germ from my Deck." Bakura informed him. Zonif was not that impressed anymore. Instead he was unsure of his next move. He had no monsters to play and no way to protect his life points from the attack of this Giant Germ when his turn was over. His life points were down to 3300 and thought that was not exactly cause for alarm, loosing another whole 1000 life points would be. He would have to hurry to construct his trap. "I place one more card face down on the field and end my turn." He said.  
  
"Fine, it's my turn now and I'm going to destroy you." Bakura said as he drew his card. "I sacrifice my Giant Germ to play the Lesser Fiend. He had 2100 attack points and I equip him with the Axe of Despair giving him another 1000 attack points. You remember what happens when my Giant Germ goes to the grave yard don't you?"  
  
"I do." Replied Zonif. His life points went down another 500 points to 2800. Thankfully though, neither of Bakura's monsters could attack him this turn because of Vengeful Bog Spirit. Bakura's cards were working in Zonif's favor. "It's my turn now and I draw." He said taking one card from his deck and then adding it to his hand. "I activate my trap card, Judgment of the Desert and now I play Book of Moon. Together these cards are very powerful. With Book of Moon I can change the battle position of one face up monster on your side of the field. I choose the Lesser Fiend. Now thanks to my trap card, your monster must stay in face down defense mode for the rest of the duel."  
  
"It's a continuous trap!?" Bakura exclaimed. "Now you've done it, I'm really going to mess you up now."  
  
"I sense an inner anger inside of you, you are not the boy I sensed before when we first met." Zonif Realized. "You are an evil apparition which has taken control of this boy. You will not win this fight and you will not take control of the boy again." Zonif said. "I will see to that."  
  
"Fine, I still don't see any monsters on your side of the field on my next turn, you'll loose more life points, either way. You can't destroy my Giant Germ without doing yourself damage." Bakura laughed.  
  
"You're right, I don't have anymore monsters in my hand to summon. I suppose that you'll just have to attack me but remember that I still have one card face down on the field. Be careful."  
  
"Damn you Ryou, why do you have such pathetic cards?" Bakura asked his counterpart. "He's got something up his sleeve and there's nothing in my hand that I can use to counter it. I suppose that I shall have to attack him though, at the very least if he destroys my monster he'll still loose 500 points. I attack!" He declared and the Giant Germ when forth to attack Zonif's life points directly.  
  
"Activate Rite of Spirit. This card allows me to summon a monster back from my grave yard. I choose Grave Keeper's Curse in Defense mode." Grave Keeper's Curse appeared and once again Bakura's life points were struck with the staff which the monster held.  
  
"How can he attack me when he's in defense mode?" Bakura demanded to know.  
  
"Because even though he is in defense mode, when he is summoned to the field, his special ability goes into play. You loose another 500 life points but because you are attacking with a stronger monster, my Grave Keeper is destroyed again. But I still have two others just like him in my deck and I have two other Rite of Spirit Cards that I can draw. This looks to be a very long duel indeed." Zonif said. Bakura's life points were down to 3000, that wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either. He knew that he could not continue to loose life points or he would loose the duel.  
  
"You can do it Zonif!" The other members of the Council cheered him.  
  
"Defeat this child and free him of the spirit which controls him!" Zelif shouted.  
  
"I will." He told his friends. "Now we shall see what I can do with the time I have bought myself." Zonif drew a card and it was just the card that he needed. "I play Pot of Greed and draw two more cards." He said and pulled just the two cards he was hoping for out of his deck. "Now I play Grave Keeper's Curse and place one card face down." Bakura's points dropped again to 2500. "It's now your turn." Bakura drew a card but it did him no good, it was only a cheep magic card.  
  
"I…I can't do anything this turn!" He gasped and looked at his hand. There was nothing in it that could help him at the moment.  
  
"Maybe I can do something though." Zonif said as he flipped over his trap card. Another Grave Keeper's Curse appeared and Bakura's life points dropped to 2000.  
  
"Ugh, it's your turn now." Bakura grunted.  
  
"Fine, I draw and now I sacrifice my Grave Keeper's Curse card to summon an even more powerful monster called Grave Keeper's Chief with 1900. More than the defense of your Lesser fiend. But I can not attack this turn so it's your turn now." Zonif yielded the turn to Bakura who drew another card.  
  
"Ah!" He exclaimed, "Now you're time is up. My turn to play a powerful monster." Bakura bragged. "I remove my three Giant Germs from play to… Wait a moment, why are you smiling?" He asked.  
  
"Because you can't removed cards from play so long as Necrovalley is on the field." Zonif informed him. "Whatever monster you were going to summon can't be summoned at all. Now if that's your turn, I'll take mine." He drew a card and once again it was just what he needed. "I equip my Grave Keeper's Chief with the Sword of Dark Destruction. This brings my monster up to 2300 points and that's quite enough to dispatch your Lesser Fiend!" The white robed priest with a snake in one hand and sword in the other went forth and struck down Bakura's monster. He lost no life points but he had one less monster on the field to protect his life points.  
  
"I draw." Bakura said, but he drew a monster that wasn't even worth playing. One that had only 1500 defense points and 1200 attack points. The Portrait's Secret. "I place one care face down in defense mode and end my turn."  
  
"I draw and play The Book of Taiyou. This forces your monster into attack position." Once again the Grave Keeper's Chief attacked and Bakura's life points dropped down to 900. "You can not win this duel." Zonif said, you're heart is not in the right, and your own friends do not cheer for you. Look at them, they are worried about you, but they know that the only way to save you is if you loose."  
  
"You…you're right." Said Ryou, who was beginning to come his senses. "I mustn't loose though. I can't loose for the sake of the human race. That's why I must rely on the Millennium Ring. I have to win at any cost."  
  
"Even if the cost is your soul?" Zonif asked.  
  
"What do you know about his soul?" Bakura demanded to know. "His soul is mine!"  
  
"NO!" Zonif cried. "This duel is over, I will crush you on my next turn, and you will vacate the boy's body. That or I will have MY friend, Zealifo force you out!"  
  
"I will not!" Bakura yelled.  
  
--------Scene Break-------  
  
"Come on Ryou, break free from that spirit, our entire race is depending on these duels." Yugioh said.  
  
"Hey Seto, do you think that Ryou's going to be okay?" Mokuba asked.  
  
"Sure, he's just hamming it up for the crowd." Kaiba told his brother. Mokuba looked around and for the first time he noticed that there was no crowd watching them. At least, none that he could see. There were guards and there were camera, or what appeared to be cameras. There were no aliens though.  
  
---------Scene Break-------  
  
"So then you refuse to play fairly."  
  
"Who said that this game was fair?" Bakura asked Zonif.  
  
"We shall have to see what happens then. It's your turn, I can do nothing more to reason with you." The Alien took a step back and stared his young opponent down.  
  
"I'll go. Damn, a no good trap card. Where were you earlier when I needed something like you?" He asked the card. "Your turn, finish me quickly." Bakura said and Zonif did. He attacked with his Grave Keeper's Chief and destroyed the last of Bakura's life points. He had lost and now for the first time, a Zord Councilman had a victory in Duel Monsters. Yugi and the others ran out onto the field when Bakura fell down to his knees. Zealifo came over to him then and placed his massive hands on Bakura's shoulders.  
  
"Don't hurt him please?" Yugi begged.  
  
"I have no intentions of hurting your friend but I must use all my mental powers to drive the wicked spirit from his being." Zealifo said and then closed his eyes to concentrate. "It is difficult, their souls are intertwined with the power of this ring he wears around his neck. I must first drive out the power of the ring so that the spirit can not return to it." He explained. Both Zealifo and Bakura's bodies began to glow with an otherworldly light. "Ryou…Ryou, where are you?"  
  
"Help me, he's tricked me again!" Cried their friend.  
  
"I hear you Ryou, I'm coming." Zealifo said and in his mind he saw Ryou hanging by a thread to the worm ridden coffin which was slowly disintegrating.  
  
"Help me!" He cried out and gripped the thread even harder.  
  
"Ryou, give me your hand." Zealifo "Quickly, let go."  
  
"I'll fall!" Ryou said.  
  
"I will catch you." Suddenly Zealifo's form changed from that of a great large man to that of a ball of pure light and in this light Yugi and the others could see Ryou.  
  
"I can't believe it!" Kaiba cried. "They're made of pure energy!"  
  
"Yes, we five of the Council are." Zelif said placing his large hand on Kaiba's shoulder. "We are beings of pure light and energy which have existed since before time began. This planet is our protectorate and the Zorg who live here look to us for protection."  
  
"There is nothing which our evolved mental abilities can not do." Said Zeanif.  
  
"That is why we have challenged you to this duel monsters tournament. To see how far you minds have developed." Zerif said to them.  
  
"I have Ryou." Zealifo informed them and then he placed Ryou back on the ground and his light was dimmed a little. "Ah." He sighed. "That was a hard task."  
  
"How are you my old friend?" Zonif asked taking the ball of light into his arms.  
  
"I need rest before my duel. I must go but I have done it. I have purged the spirit from Ryou and the Ring. He will trouble them no more." Zealifo said then rested in his friend's arms.  
  
"I must take him home for now. We can conclude these duels tomorrow." Zonif said and took his friend, Zealifo, away.  
  
"I shall look forward to our duel tomorrow young Rebecca." Said Zerif as he passed by. "I hope that you will fair well as I will give you no such mercy as Zelif showed Yugi." Rebecca shuttered. She was only 11 years old, what was she going to do up against an Alien Being of pure energy?  
  
"My friends please come with me." Zelif said and began ushering Yugi and the others to a nearby door, which led out of the Arena, deep underground, and directly beneath the Coliseum. Soon they were brought to a clearly lit room filled with food and party favors.  
  
"What's all this?" Yugi asked Zelif.  
  
"We have prepared this for you because we know that it is necessary for you caporal beings to refresh yourselves with food and drink and rest. Through those doors to the left are your rooms. I hope that you will rest comfortably." Zelif said then turned to leave.  
  
"You're not going to join us?" Yugi asked.  
  
"There would be no point as I only require a few hours rest to replenish myself. Now go eat, and rest. Tomorrow the tournament continues and you will all need your strength." Zelif said. Yugi then shut the door behind him.  
  
"He probably locked it." Kaiba said as he sat down at the table. "I'm not trying this stuff unless someone else goes first." Mokuba agreed, this was way too much for a simple dinner. There had to be a catch.  
  
"Fine, I'm not afraid to die of a good thing." Joey said and started to fill his plate and stuff his face. Everyone gathered around him and watched for a few moments as Joey pigged out on everything at the table. He seemed to be unaffected by the strange food or the drinks which had been prepared. "Hey, I'm going to eat it all if you guys don't dig in. This stuff is terrific." Yugi and the others broke down and tried some of the strange alien food and they found it to be delicious. In fact it was the best thing they'd all had since Pegasus's ball.  
  
"This is fantastic." Pegasus remarked as he helped himself to second plate full.  
  
"Yeah, it's like nothing I've ever had before." Mai agreed.  
  
"We've got to get the recipe for this." Yugi was enjoying himself thoroughly and so were Mokuba and Rebecca. Kaiba on the other hand was not that hungry for food so much as he was eager to face his opponent the next day after Rebecca faced off against Zerif. Yugi's only complaint was that Tea wasn't there to share it all with him. She would be totally steamed at him for having so much fun and great food without her.  
  
"You feeling alright now Ryou?" Yugi asked looking over his weakened and defeated friend.  
  
"I'm fine." He replied. "Just tired."  
  
"I wonder how the others are doing." Mokuba said then.  
  
"I almost forgot." Kaiba said and pulled out a short wave radio from his jacket. "I'd better check in with them. They're probably worried about us." A look of utter horror came over Kaiba's face when he realized… "It's not working!" He exclaimed.  
  
-------Scene Break--------  
  
"What's going on, give me a reading!" Tea demanded from the bridge of the Pegasus.  
  
"We can't pick anything up, they're too far beneath the surface for our scanners to find them." Weevil said.  
  
"Damn, we've got to find them, and make sure they're okay." Serenity said leaning over the communications consol. "I'll keep trying to reach them on Seto's short wave radio." Just then an image appeared on the view screen.  
  
"You're trying to find your friends?" Asked Zelif.  
  
"You." Tea said. "Yes, we've lost our friend's signals down there and you'd better have an explanation for this."  
  
"I do, your friends are safe, and we've seen to their needs. Ryou should be recovering with the others in the domicile we've prepared for them in one of our underground chambers. They have nourishing food, refreshing drink, and beds to sleep on. I'm afraid we could not accommodate them with all the creature comforts your ship would allow them, but it is for their own safety. The Zorg people are up in arms about your being here. They fear you and do not totally understand the situation. They know not what the stakes are in the games we've been playing with you." Zelif said.  
  
"Look, we just want to see them, okay. To know that you're telling us the truth." Serenity pleaded with him.  
  
"Save your pleas young one. I will show you your loved ones." Zelif said kindly, then the view screen shifted and a fuzzy kind of picture came through. It was Yugi and he was sitting in a brick room somewhere on the side of a bed.  
  
"It's Yugi!" Tea cried with glee. "But what about the others?" She demanded.  
  
"They are here." Zelif's voice came from behind the picture and then suddenly the picture cut apart into several screens with each one of their friends confined to their own little square. "See, they are all safe. You should not doubt me young ones, your Friend Yugi does not and neither does Yami, I believe."  
  
"What?" Tea exclaimed. "You know about the Spirit who lives in Yugi's Puzzle?"  
  
"I know many things my child. Do not doubt me, for I would not doubt your friends. They are most interesting creatures. You all are. I look forward to seeing everyone of you tomorrow for the conclusion of the tournament. Good night." Zelif's voice was heard no more aboard the Pegasus or the Blue Eyes Two until early the next morning.  
  
--------Scene Break----------  
  
"Are you sure you're well enough to duel today my friend?" Zonif asked Zealifo as they once again took a humanoid form.  
  
"I am weak still but strong enough to face the older Kaiba brother." he said. "Do not fear for me old friend. I have grown weaker these past few centuries. My time is coming soon when I must pass beyond the stars as the first of us did so long ago to a new plain of existence."  
  
"No my friend. Say that it is not so." Zonif took Zealifo by the shoulders. Of all the Council they were closest because they were the two eldest of the five. They had existed back in the first days when the universe was born and their kind were born of the big bang. The first life which existed in the universe.  
  
"I am not gone yet, I still have time, and we still have our battles today. Remember that after I, you must duel again. You must stand up for us all if Zerif and I loose."  
  
"I will." Zonif said. "I will stand up for you and for all of those who were greater than us five who were left behind. I will not allow your last days with us to be tainted with shame."  
  
"There is no shame in defeat because though, I might be beaten, I will not have lost. I will go to a better place. Remember today and never forget." Zealifo said.  
  
"Forget what my friend?" Asked Zonif.  
  
"That I am the Destroyer of Armies." He said proudly. "I have brought war and peace to the universe since I was young. I will not loose against Kaiba. Friend though he may become, I am still his opponent today. We will meet on the battlefield where I have been all my life. Fighting for a righteous cause."  
  
--------Scene Break---------  
  
Kaiba awoke in his room with the strangest feeling. He felt that somehow, he was not totally up for this duel today. He figured though that this feeling would go away. He still had time since, after all, his was the next to the last duel. Zonif had won the day before and one of them would have to face him again.  
  
"But which one of us should it be?" Kaiba asked himself. He was unsure. Yugi had just barely won his duel with Zelif, Mokuba had had no trouble beating his opponent the day before also, but Mokuba was still so very young. If he had to face a clearly stronger opponent it might damage his confidence. Ryou was no good to them anymore, he'd lost, and no telling what would happen this morning with Rebecca and Zerif's duel. "I can't let anymore of us loose, or else we'll have to put in Mai, or worse, Wheeler."  
  
------Scene Break--------  
  
"I don't know about this Yami, I've got a bad feeling about today's match ups." Yugi told the Spirit of the Puzzle.  
  
"I know, something isn't right." Yami replied. "I wonder if there might be something wrong with one of the Zorg Council members. They did shuffle us off the field pretty early yesterday evening. It was nice to be able to rest and relax for a little while but I got the feeling that there was something that they did not want us to see."  
  
"You don't think that Zealifo was hurt or something do you? I mean he was pretty tuckered out after he released Ryou from Bakura's clutches."  
  
"I fear that the situation may be much worse than that, Yugi. I fear that our Alien Friends will soon suffer a great loss. Perhaps they are not as immortal as they lead us to believe."  
  
"Oh Yami." Yugi said looking greatly distressed. "If one of them were to die while facing one of us in a Duel then the people of this planet will blame us. There'll be no way we can be friends with the Zorg." Yami put his transparent arm around Yugi and the two of them sat there for a long time thinking and hoping against all odds that everything would go good for them today. That Rebecca and Kaiba would win their duels and that the Aliens would be alright.  
  
"Rise and shine!" Pegasus shouted as he burst into the room just then.  
  
"AHH!" Yugi jumped with fright. "Pegasus what are you doing?" He demanded to know.  
  
"Sorry," He said laughing, "I just thought that as the Coach, I should be the one to get everyone up for the games today. After all we've all had a good night's sleep and it's time for a new day, new duels, and new opportunities. You know, Yugi, I was wondering if you might do something for me."  
  
"What's that?" Yugi asked, suspicious.  
  
"Could you perhaps get me some time alone with that fellow Zelif, I'd love to talk to him about marketing Duel Monsters Cards here on Zorg. I think that after these games of theirs are done, people, or I mean Zorg everywhere will want to buy the cards. Oh!" He cried. "I could come out with an entirely new line of cards just for this planet. I must take a look at their mythology and history."  
  
"Sure Pegasus, I'm sure they'd love it." Yugi said humoring him. "I'll talk to Zelif today."  
  
"You do that for me Yugi and I'll let you in on 30 of the profits. Kaiba's sure to make a mint off of the gaming technology after all of this. Not a single Zorg on the planet would pass up an opportunity to buy his own duel disk once my cards hit the street. This is the start of an entirely new way of life for us Yugi, we're going to be intergalactic mega stars." All Yugi could do was stand there and smile while Pegasus planned out their entire future relations with the people of Zorg. In the meantime though, the duels were getting started upstairs as Mokuba, Rebecca, Kaiba, Joey, Mai, and Ryou had already gotten up and gone with Zelif up to the arena. Once again the coliseum was devoid of anyone other than the Zorg Military who were there for, as Zelif put it, "For their protection." Zonif, Zerif, Zeanif, and Zealifo were standing on their side of the arena.  
  
"Are you ready Rebecca Hawkins?" Zerif asked.  
  
"I am." Rebecca proudly declared.  
  
"Good, then let our duel commence." They each walked out to the center of the arena and shook hands then returned to their respective sides of the field. "We won the last duel so you will get to go first this time."  
  
"Fine with me." Rebecca said, though deep down inside she wasn't fine. She was out there playing with a mostly untested deck against someone who had the mental powers of the demigod. There was no way that she felt she could do this.  
  
"Go Rebecca!" Mokuba shouted, "I believe in you, you can do this, so show them who's boss!" Mokuba's cheers were encouraging enough for Rebecca. She knew that with her friends cheering her on, she could win this duel.  
  
"Alright then," She said drawing her five cards. "I'll get the ball rolling with Spirit of the Pot of Greed!" She said. "And now I play Pot of Greed, that means I can draw three cards instead of two thanks to my monster's special ability."  
  
"Good first move, now hit him hard with another magic card!" Kaiba yelled from the sidelines.  
  
"I plan to, by playing Goblin Thief." Rebecca stated. "You loose life points, while I gain." Rebecca's life points went up to 4500 while Zerif's went down to 3500.  
  
"Is that all?" Zerif asked.  
  
"Not by a long shot." Rebecca replied sweetly. "I'm going to lay this card face down and then end my turn." Rebecca was off to a good start but Zerif was about to play a string of cards that would devastate her deck and her moral.  
  
"I play Bowganian in attack mode with Machine Conversion Factory to equip it. This gives my machine monster a total of 1600 points, which is more than enough to destroy your pitiful Fairy. I attack." The One eyed green ball with two mechanical arms sprouting forth from it's sides floated over and shot the Spirit of the Pot of Greed with a metal crossbow. The pot and the spirit were destroyed and Rebecca's life points plummeted.  
  
"How is that possible?" Rebecca asked.  
  
"Because my monster has a special ability which allows it to attack in the same turn it's summoned. Also during each your standby phases, you'll loose 600 life points. I lay three cards face down on the field and end my turn."  
  
"Looks like I'm going to have to get rid of this thing." Rebecca said as she drew from her deck. She paused only a moment as any further delay would result in her loosing another 600 points. "I play Gemini Elf in attack mode and they each have 300 more attack points than your Bowganian." Rebecca informed Zerif. "I attack this turn and you loose 300 more life points."  
  
"Hmm." Zerif said taking his own turn. "I see that I shall have to play harder than this. I activate the trap card Solemn Wishes. You may remember it from your friend Yugi's deck. After seeing how well he used it before, I decided to add it to my deck."  
  
"Who cares, copy cat!" Rebecca stuck out her tongue and used her fingers to make an L shape on her forehead. "I suppose it's your turn now, but don't be so cocky, you played most of your hand on your first turn. You've only got one card in your hand, what good is that doing to do you?" She asked.  
  
"I a great deal once I draw." Zerif said and he drew and his life points rose by 500. "I now sacrifice my Bowganian to summon Timeater, also with 1900 points, and now I equip him with the magic card Seven Completed. This gives my monster 2600 attack points. Now I attack again with my Timeater. Your Elves are destroyed, and now it's time to apply my monster's special ability. On your turn, you must skip your main phase number one."  
  
---------Scene Break---------  
  
"What that mean big brother?" Mokuba asked.  
  
"It means that when her turn comes, she won't be able to summon any monsters to the field to protect her life points. Rebecca's lost this duel."  
  
"NO!" Mokuba cried. "Rebecca, you can do this, just have faith in your deck!" He shouted to her.  
  
---------Scene Break--------  
  
Rebecca heard Mokuba's words and she had faith, just not very much, but now she would try to have more. She had to believe in her deck just like Mokuba had told her and just like Yugi had taught her. The heart of the cards was with her and so she drew.  
  
"Huh, what's this doing in here?" She asked. "Yugi must have slipped this into my deck last night before we all went to bed. Well, it's all I've got and I'll need it. Go Zerif, it's your turn." She said and put the card with the rest of her hand.  
  
"I attack with my Timeater." He said, thinking that this would finish Rebecca off but it was not to be.  
  
"I'm sorry." She said then, laying a card in her graveyard. "But I activate a special effect of my own. I discard Kuriboh from my hand to the graveyard and his ability says that when I do this, I loose no life points from an attack."  
  
"How can it be that you would have drawn that particular card when you would have needed it so desperately?" Zerif demanded.  
  
"I don't know, I didn't even know it was in my deck, but it was. I used it so now it's my turn and you're really going to get it now." Rebecca told the Alien. "I draw and play Offerings To The Doomed. This magic card destroys one monster card on the field but I have to skip my next draw phase."  
  
"Activate Spell Shield Type-8!" Zerif shouted and flipped over a trap card. A large machine with flailing tentacles appeared and created a shield around the Timeater which deflected the effect of Rebecca's magic card. Instead of the Timeater being destroyed, the Spell Shield Type-8 was destroyed in it's place. Rebecca gasped. Her plan had not worked, and she had nothing in her hands which could withstand the attack of Zerif's Timeater.  
  
"What do I do?" She cried  
  
"Keep the faith Rebecca!" Came another voice. It was Yugi's and Rebecca spun around. Yugi was coming up to the sidelines with Pegasus following close behind. "Believe in the heart of the cards Rebecca, have faith in them, and they can do anything." Rebecca turned back around to face her opponent again. She had Yugi and Mokuba behind her now. She knew that with the support of her friends, she could not fail.  
  
"I place one card in face down defense mode and end my turn and lay one card face down to support it." She said and closed her eyes to await the coming attack but Zerif was intrigued by what Yugi had to say. He had never heard of such a thing before.  
  
"Excuse me, time out as you say, what is this Heart of The Cards?" He asked Yugi from his side of the field.  
  
"It's the faith that each player has in his or her deck. When you put a deck together, you put a piece of your own heart in that deck, and that part of you inside the deck can be reached with the heart. That's why it's called The Heart of The Cards."  
  
"And this works for anyone?" Asked Zerif.  
  
"It dose, for a righteous duelist most of all."  
  
"A righteous duelist." Zerif has to stop and ask himself what it was he was dueling for now. Why had they begun the games all those centuries ago on this world? To put and end to war. The peoples of Zorg were divided, leaderless, and without hope. Then the five of them came to this world from outside the known universe. They had put an end to the wars, brought peace to the planet, and began the games to insure that no one ever felt the need to go to war again. That was why he was dueling this time. So that there would not be a war between Yugi's people and the Zorg. Zerif more than any of the other Councilmen knew the suspicious nature of the people of Zorg. He knew that they would not help Yugi's people willingly unless there was some concessions made. That was why he had to duel with all his might. So that even if Yugi's team won the games, they could say that they had won it hard fought, and without help. 


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven.  
  
Croquet was pacing back and forth and so were all the crew of the Pegasus as the long stall in the duel where neither Rebecca nor Zerif did anything. It seemed to them all that Zerif was trying to rationalize something but they could not tell what was going on inside of his alien heart.  
  
"If only I had gone down there with Mr. Pegasus." Croquet said to Tea who was still seated in the Captain's seat.  
  
"I know what you mean, I wish I were down there with Yugi, but we are where we are so we just have to support them from right here." She replied.  
  
--------Scene Break--------  
  
"Come on already, do something." Kaiba grumbled after watching the tedium for what seemed like hours.  
  
"Give them both sometime." Yugi said. "I'm sure that their both doing the best that they can. Besides no one has called time in yet." Just then though, the duel was back on.  
  
-----Scene Break--------  
  
"Time in." Zerif said and then he continued with his turn. "I draw and play another Seven Completed. This time to strengthen my defenses. His Timeater's defense points rose from 1700 to 2400. His monster seemed unstoppable but Rebecca knew that there had to be away to win. She waited for the attack to come and when it did her last defense was destroyed and Timeater's special ability went to effect on her turn. She drew and did not look at the card. It would do her no good, she thought, as now she could not summon it. There was nothing on the field to protect her life points and after this turn, she would loose.  
  
"It's over." She said with tears in her eyes.  
  
"Don't give up Rebecca!" Mokuba cried.  
  
"Believe in the heart of the Cards!" Yugi shouted. He was right she still had one face down card and now was the time to use it.  
  
"Activate Spell Binding Circle!" Rebecca cried once Zerif had declared his attack.  
  
"What!" He exclaimed. Spell Binding Circle appeared around his monster and blocked it's attack just as it was going to fire. "NO!"  
  
"YES!" Everyone on the sidelines cried and leaped for joy. This duel was still on and Rebecca was going to win it.  
  
"It's my turn." She said and drew a card. "This is where it counts. I'm going to play Monster Reborn and Summon back my Gemini Elves." She declared. Now I've got a monster with 1900 attack points and now I'm going to play Rain of Mercy. This card gives us both 1000 life points." Zerif was stunned, he'd not counted on this Rebecca had been willing to play a card that would make her task more difficult in order to save herself. The Heart of the Cards was working against him for Rebecca. Was his cause not righteous enough for the Heart of the Card to work for him also?  
  
"I draw." His life points rose another 500 points and he knew that he would have to play his trump card. "I sacrifice my Timeater to play Jinzo in attack mode with 2400 points and I attack." He said Jinzo attacked the Elf twins and they disappeared again. Rebecca's life points dropped another 500 points but she was still going strong. It was her turn and now she would draw.  
  
"Swords of Revealing light!" She commanded the swords to come down around Jinzo and now for three turns he was as useless as their trap cards were now.  
  
"I place one card face down and end my turn." Zerif said after drawing.  
  
"My turn and I play Lady Panther in Defense mode." Rebecca said as she played the card she had just drawn. Zerif's life points were still going up. Before she could take care of that she would have to get ride of his Jinzo. None of the monsters in her deck were strong enough to do that except one. Which one though? Dark Magician or Blue Eyes White Dragon? She only had one shot at drawing one of these cards and she would need all her faith in the Heart of the Cards to find them.  
  
"My turn now." Said Zerif. "I place one card face down and end my turn."  
  
"Fine then, now I summon Zolga in defense mode and end my turn." Rebecca said.  
  
"Neither of those two monsters are strong enough to defeat my Jinzo. You're just wasting your time bolstering your defenses like that. None of your traps will work, and soon none of your magic cards. For now it is my turn again and I equip Jinzo with Amplifier which allows my to activate trap cards while you still can not. Your turn, but I seriously doubt that anything you do will help you now."  
  
"Fine, then it's time for my turn. Please heart of the cards don't fail me." She said as she drew her next card. Rebecca hoped against all odds that the card she would draw would be. "I sacrifice my two monster on the field, Lady Panther, and Zolga to summon…" She paused and looked at the card in her hand. "BLUE EYES WHITE DRAGON!" The great beast appeared.  
  
-------Scene Break-------  
  
Kaiba gasped when he saw the Blue eyes appear on the field and quickly check his own deck. All three of his Blue Eyes were there so how could it be that there was a fourth one?  
  
"Yugi, what did you do?" He turned and demanded.  
  
"I gave Rebecca a fighting chance." He said. "Thanks to Pegasus."  
  
"No thanks to me, I just repaired the card that you destroyed, Kaiba boy." Pegasus said.  
  
"Don't you know what it is that you've done. You upset the balance of power in Duel monsters again!" Kaiba shouted. "Yugi, you'll pay for this."  
  
--------Scene Break---------  
  
"Blue Eyes White Dragon, how can this be?" Asked Zerif "That card was destroyed!"  
  
"It was remade." Said Rebecca and now her Blue Eyes was the strongest monster on the field. "I attack with blazing white lightning!" She declared and Jinzo was destroyed before Zerif could activate any of his traps that would have made Rebecca's deck worthless to her. After the fall of Jinzo, the rest of his deck was easy to take down along with his life points. When Zerif's life point counter reached 0 at last, after a long, and tiresome duel; Zerif collapsed on the ground with his cards and had to be helped off the field by Zonif and the others.  
  
"Zerif will be fine." Zelif said when Rebecca came back over to stand with her friends. This relieved her fears as Mokuba ran and threw an arm around her and they hugged each other as children do.  
  
"You did spectacularly." Yugi told Rebecca.  
  
"Awe it was nothing that your usual College Grade Genius couldn't have done." Rebecca said  
  
"I don't know what College is, Rebecca, but that was a certainly a good duel for someone so young. You and Mokuba both are very intelligent." Zelif said. "But now it is time for yet another duel. I believe it's your turn Mr. Kaiba."  
  
"That's right, Seto, it's your turn now." Mokuba said. "Go get him bro."  
  
"Hmm." Kaiba grunted with a smile and a nod then he took the field.  
  
------Scene Break------  
  
"Are you sure that you won't let one of us take your place?" Zonif asked Zealifo.  
  
"I am sure my friend. This duel is for all of us." He said then took the field. Zealifo was committed to the duel and he was not going to let anyone or anything interfere, even his weakened state was not a factor in his mind. He wanted to face Seto Kaiba and see just how good he was at this game of theirs. Surely the man who invented so many wonderful gadgets to accessorize the game was a true master of the cards. "Our team lost last turn so it's my move. I play The Exiled Force in defense mode." Five armored soldiers appeared on the field and they looked ready for battle.  
  
"Not bad." Kaiba said. "You've managed to field five monsters on one turn. Impressive. You're still a beginner and this card game, as you've seen, is not for those who's hearts are weak. My move and Now I play the Familiar Knight in attack mode." Kaiba's Knight was clearly stronger than any of Zealifo's but Zaelifo did not look the least bit worried.  
  
"My turn now, and I activate these two magic cards. The A. Forces, which gives each of my monsters 200 extra attack points. And I equip my Captain of the Exiled Force with the Fusion Sword Murasame Blade." The Captain stepped forth and from his arm sprouted a long sword with serrated blade. "Go my Exiled Force, attack his monster and his life points!"  
  
"What?" Kaiba couldn't believe it. When the five armored soldiers advanced across the field their Captain sliced right through his Familiar Knight while the other four attacked him directly. Kaiba fell backwards onto his back and watched as his life points dropped to 0.  
  
"NO!" Mokuba couldn't believe it. Indeed none of them could believe it. Kaiba had lost in the first three turns. No one had ever been able to do that to him before."  
  
"It can't be." Yugi said. "He lost."  
  
"Not even a challenge for me." Said Zealifo. "Well, who is next to face me?" He asked them all. "Zonif and I will take on two of you at once if need be."  
  
"Is that really necessary?" Zelif asked his old friend.  
  
"It is." Replied Zonif as he came to stand beside of Zealifo. "We are dueling for the honor of this Council and we will not loose against any of you."  
  
"Is that so." Said Mai. "Well, Joey and I can take the two of you on and we can beat you right now if you want."  
  
"I don't desire the two of you." Zealifo said. "I desire to test myself against Yugi Mouto."  
  
"Against me?" Yugi asked.  
  
"And I desire to test myself against young Mokuba Kaiba, the only individual ever to have beaten the Great Yugi Mouto." Said Zonif.  
  
"That is our challenge, take it, or forfeit the games now. We will be more than happy to speed you on your way back into space." Zealifo said, trying to goat them into a match.  
  
"Seto, what should I…"  
  
"You have no choice." Kaiba told his brother. "You must duel them and win."  
  
"Well, it's really up to me now isn't it." Yugi said. "What if I duel the two of you at once?" He asked.  
  
"That will not do." Said Zealifo. "We want you one on one or the two of us against the two of you. Those are the terms."  
  
"Fine, we'll do it." Mokuba said. "But it'll be one on one, winner takes all, and to make sure that everything goes fairly for everyone…"  
  
"I'll be sending you all to the shadow realm to duel." Kaiba said and lifted his Millennium Rod high above his head.  
  
"A shadow duel, Kaiba NO!" Yugi cried but it was too late the shadows engulfed the arena and covered the coliseum like a dome.  
  
"Yugioh!" Yugi cried and transformed. "Kaiba what have you done?" Yugioh asked him.  
  
"I've made it harder for them to mentally conger their monsters. Now they'll loose for sure. Besides, there's nothing in the rules pertaining to a shadow duel." Kaiba laughed wickedly. "I told you that you would pay too Yugi, so now here's the deal, you'll face the Aliens without the aide of a duel disk. Kaiba's rod glowed brightly and then suddenly the Duel Disk of Yugi's arm disappeared.  
  
"What, Kaiba, NO! With what will I conger my monsters?"  
  
"With your mind." Kaiba told him. "With your mind."  
  
--------Scene Break--------  
  
"Where did they go?" Weevil asked when he saw the blank screen. Tea stood horrified for she knew what was happening at that very moment. A Shadow Duel. 


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve.  
  
"So this is how it will all end, in the shadows, and now I know what it is to be mortal." Said Zealifo to Zonif.  
  
"It's so cold here." Zonif replied. "How are we supposed to battle in such a place?"  
  
"It's easy for those of us with strong wills." Kaiba said. "Here in the Shadow Realm you must mentally conger you monsters, magics, and traps. The shadows amplify the mental and spiritual energies of each player but it also drains them. If there isn't a clear winner in thirty minutes, or so, then the shadows will consume us all." Everyone with them were horrified.  
  
"Kaiba, we can't do duel this way, it's too dangerous!" Said Yugioh.  
  
"I don't care what you think, Yugi, this duel is my revenge for my losses to you and to these aliens." Kaiba told him. "I plan to make things as difficult for the three of you as possible."  
  
"And what about Mokuba?" Yugioh asked.  
  
"He'll be fine so long as he has his duel disk." Kaiba replied.  
  
"No, I won't." Mokuba said as he removed his duel disk from his arm and kicked out of sight.  
  
"Mokuba what are you doing?" Kaiba demanded.  
  
"Seto, if they're all dueling without Duel disks then so am I." Mokuba replied. He took his deck and laid it on the ground. "This duel is going to be fair."  
  
"If that's what you want, I can't stop you." Kaiba said then hung his head. "So who's first?"  
  
"I'll go first." Said Mokuba. "I'll take Zonif. Yugi, Zealifo's all yours."  
  
"Very well." Replied Yugioh. "But be careful, these two are a powerful team, it might be better if we dueled the two of them together."  
  
"No, I want it this way, one on one." Mokuba told him. "I won't rely on anyone to carry my weight anymore. It's time that I grew up Yugi. I've been a little kid for too long."  
  
"Hmm." Was all that Yugioh could manage. He was proud to be Mokuba's friend just then. He was showing real courage and spirit in the face of insurmountable odds. Zealifo and Zonif seemed unbeatable since they had both already defeated two of the best Duelists in the universe. Ryou, Kaiba, and now it might be that they would defeat The two very best Duelists in all of existence. There was only one way to find out and that was to duel their hardest and have faith in The Heart of The Cards.  
  
-------Scene Break-------  
  
"What does this mean?" Rebecca asked Pegasus on the sidelines.  
  
"It means that Mokuba wants to fight his own battles just as he did before. Don't worry, he can hold his own." Pegasus told her.  
  
-------Scene Break--------  
  
"Let this Shadow Game begin then." Yugioh said. "Mokuba VS Zonif."  
  
"Let's go." Mokuba said and took the field. He drew five cards from the top of his deck and looked at his hand. "I'll start this game off, I play a card face down in defense mode with two cards face down to support it."  
  
"Fine then, now it's my turn." Said Zonif as he drew a card. "I play Grave Keeper's Curse and when he is summoned to the field…well, you know what happens."  
  
"Activate face down card!" Mokuba declared "Trap of Board Eraser, whenever the effect causing me to loose life points is activated, my opponent looses life points instead. And it's a continuous trap so you can't play anymore of your favorite monsters unless you want to loose life points."  
  
"Blast." Said Zonif, "Now I can't use any of my best cards. I still have one card up my sleeve, so to speak. I play the field magic card Necrovalley. This card boosts my Grave Keepers by 500 points so now my Grave Keeper's Curse is 1300 points strong. I attack your face down card."  
  
"Activate Mask of Weakness!" Cried Mokuba and a dark mask automatically attached itself to Zonif's monster. "This card drains 700 points off of your monster's attack points so now he'll be destroyed." Zonif couldn't believe it, this child was thwarting his every move.  
  
"I have no choice but to end my turn." He said as his monster vanished.  
  
"Alright then, now it's my turn, and I play the burning land card. We each take 500 points of direct damage to our life points and your Necrovalley card is destroyed." Mokuba said as he set the card then suddenly he slumped down. "Seto, this is getting harder and harder to do." He told his brother.  
  
"Hang in there Mokuba, you've got him, just keep going on a few more minutes." Kaiba shouted to him.  
  
"It is becoming increasingly harder to breath in this place." Said Zonif. "Zealifo, we don't need air to live, but I can't breath enough, what's happening?"  
  
"We're mortal here in the Shadow Realm." Said Zealifo. "The magic powers of Kaiba's Rod has made this place into a different dimension. We'll all die here unless we finish these games soon." He said, feeling his own neck tightening.  
  
"My turn now." Said Zonif. "I play Tribute To The Doomed which destroys one monster card on the field for the price of one card from my hand." He said and discarded. Mokuba's Masked Dragon was destroyed. "Now I set one card face down on the field and end my turn. Neither of us have monster cards so it's all up to our traps and magics now."  
  
"Fine, but you'd better back up." Mokuba said. "Cause when you destroyed my Masked Dragon you activated his special ability which allowed me to summon this card face up on the field." Suddenly from just behind Mokuba stepped two large Dragon like soldiers. "Go Troop Dragons! Attack his life points."  
  
"Yeah you've got it Mokuba!" Rebecca shouted from the sidelines.  
  
"No he doesn't, not exactly." Said Zonif. "Reveal face down card, Rite of Spirit! I now summon back from the graveyard my Grave Keeper's Chief and he's 1900 points against your pitiful Dragons which are only 700 points." Troop Dragons were destroyed but then two more appeared in face up defense mode as per their special ability.  
  
"Remember Zonif that Mokuba's Troop Dragons have two special abilities, they can summon more of their own kind to the field after they are destroyed and they can be used in summoning monsters which require more than one sacrifice." Zealifo reminded his friend. The Data they had received concerning the cards and their abilities was quite useful when applied.  
  
"That's right." Said Mokuba, "Because these were both special summons from my deck I can use them now to summon a monster from my hand so now I sacrifice my Troop Dragons to summon Luster Dragon #2 with 2400 attack points. But because my Troop Dragons were sent to the Graveyard, I get another set, but these are my last two so I and end my turn."  
  
"I draw." Said Zonif. "Just what I needed." He glared across the field at Mokuba. "I set one card face down and then I equip my Grave Keeper's Chief with The Sword of Dark Destruction. This gives Brings my Grave Keeper up to 2400 points, just like your Dragon and I attack."  
  
"What!" Mokuba couldn't believe it. "You'd sacrifice your own monster to destroy mine?"  
  
"That's right, so you don't loose any life points this round, but just wait until next round." Both Monsters disappeared and then Troop Dragons were all that was left.  
  
"Well, I can at least still attack with these. I should wait though, until I know for sure what that face down card is. NO, I have something better in mind, if I can draw the card I need." Mokuba said to himself. He drew and wonder of wonders he'd drawn the card he needed. "I play Cost down and sacrifice my two Troop Dragons to summon to the field my Serpent Night Dragon." The great creature appeared and then he ordered it to attack.  
  
"Rite of Spirit!" Zonif activated another trap of the same name. He must have more than one in his deck, Mokuba thought as the Grave Keeper's Chief reappeared for a split second on the field. It wasn't on there for long but it was on their long enough to save some of Zonif's life points. He was down to just 1650, another attack from Mokuba's dragon would finish him.  
  
"I have nothing left." Said Zonif to Zealifo. "I have tried to do my best but with that Trap of Board Eraser on the field, I can't do anything to his life points with the cards I have in my deck. I'm afraid that I must forfeit the duel." No one was expecting this of Zonif, not even Zealifo.  
  
"You must do what you think best." Zealifo replied. "My friend is there nothing else you can do?"  
  
"Nothing. I have been bested by this brave young one." Zonif laid his hand over his deck and that was the end of that duel.  
  
"Gosh." Said Mokuba when everyone ran out to congratulate him. "I didn't want a victory so hollow. I wanted to fight an honorable duel." He was very disappointed.  
  
"You were wonderful Mokuba, you gave him no other choice but to give up. You're unstoppable!" Rebecca cheered.  
  
"She's right, you've become a great Duelist in such a short time." Yugioh said to him.  
  
"He's my brother, of course he has." Said Kaiba proudly.  
  
"Now it's time for you and I to duel Yugi." Said Zealifo from across the field. "I hope that you are ready?" He asked.  
  
"I am." Yugioh replied.  
  
"Yami, let's do this." Yugi said.  
  
"Yes." replied Yami and they took the field.  
  
"It's my turn first." Said Zealifo. "Since my team lost the last time around. I Summon the Marauding Captain in attack mode and play two cards face down. Now as per my Captain's special ability I can summon another monster of a level 4 or lower from my hand and I play Getsu Fuhma in attack mode and end my turn."  
  
"Careful Yugi, he's doing you just like he did Kaiba, by playing more than one monster at a time on the field on his first turn!" Pegasus yelled to him.  
  
"Don't worry, I'll handle it." Yugioh assured him. "I just have to have faith in The Heart of The Cards." He drew a card and immediately placed it on the field. "I play one card face down in defense mode and two cards face down to support it."  
  
"Good move, bolstering your defenses, for nothing you do can stand up to the awesome power of my deck." Said Zealifo. "My turn, I draw, and now play Restructer Revolution which inflicts 200 points of damage to your life points for each card in your hand. I count 3 cards in your hand Yugi, so say goodbye to 600 of your life points." Yugioh felt himself weakening as his life points were drained and now he felt that he had to win this duel quickly if they were all going to make it out of there alive. Indeed even Zealifo was feeling the drain on his life force whenever he mentally congerd a card to the field.  
  
"What now?" Yugioh asked.  
  
"I will end my turn. For at the moment nothing I have is powerful enough to attack your Mystical Elf. Is that not the card you have face down on the field?" Zealifo asked.  
  
"How did…?" Yugioh gasped.  
  
"How did I know? I know your deck as well as you know it, Yugi, because I've researched your past duels and I know that whatever you have in your deck, I have something just as powerful." Zealifo said. "I know every card in your deck and I won't let you win like Zelif did."  
  
"It's my move and I draw." Said Yugioh calmly. He'd better think of something fast, he only had a few more minutes to beat Zealifo before the shadows would consume them all. "I play the magic card Graceful Charity and draw three more cards." He said Excellent, he'd drawn his Egyptian God Card again but he could summon it to the field just yet. He would need to sacrifice three monsters, or would he? If he sent Slifer to the graveyard then he could easily summon him back for one turn. "I send two cards to the graveyard and now I play the magic card Monster Reborn!" Yugioh proclaimed, "To summon back to the field Slifer the Sky Dragon!" The great god of the Sky appeared before them with 3000 attack points strong and roared with a terrible sound like unto an earth shattering cry.  
  
"So this is it, my chance to tangle with the gods themselves." Said Zealifo. "I am not worthy of such an honor but I will stand the test." He stood with his monsters and seemed unafraid.  
  
"Go Slifer, attack his weakest monster. Destroy the Marauding Captain!" Yugioh commanded. Slifer roared again and then opened it's mouth wide to blast the 1200 point monster with a ball of energy so massive that when it struck, it destroyed both of Zealifo's monsters and took his life points down to 900. "My turn has ended, so now Slifer goes back to the grave yard, but he'll be back." Yugioh told the Alien.  
  
"Now it's your turn, make your move Zealifo, and make it a good one." Zonif and Zerif cried from the sidelines.  
  
"Is there anything that I can do against the power of the gods?" Zealifo asked himself. "I hadn't counted on him being able to summon Slifer from the grave yard or that he would do so soon. I had assumed that Yugi would want to summon him the usual way by sacrificing three monsters. That, I could have prevented simply by destroying his monsters before he could get three of them on the field. Now I have to find some way of keeping him from being able to summon Slifer from the graveyard." Zealifo thought for a moment. "I draw, and play the continuous magic card, Banner of Courage. This increases the attack of monster on my side of the field by 200 points. Now I summon Freed the Brave Wanderer with 1900 attack points now, thanks to my Banner of Courage."  
  
"I see, then my monster is still stronger than yours, in defense mode, that is." Observed Yugioh.  
  
"For now, but I also equip my monster with the Legendary Sword, which raises his attack point even higher to 2200 points. Now I will attack your Mystical Elf and open you up for an attack to your life points later…" Zealifo began to shake a little and then he collapsed to one knee. "What's happening to me?" He asked, as his body began to fade in and out that reality. "I can hardly manage to stand."  
  
"Kaiba!" Yugioh yelled. "You're killing him! Get us out of here now before it's too late!"  
  
"No." Kaiba refused to budge an inch. "Not until the duel is over." Yugioh gritted his teeth and then turned back to his opponent.  
  
"Are you alright?" He asked Zealifo.  
  
"I am fine." The Alien said as he regained his composure and stood upright again, using all of his strength. "It is hard for me, being that I exist as pure thought, in this place of all places to withstand the shadows. I can manage it though." He lied. He was dieing even as they spoke. "It's still my move and I will attack now." Zealifo's monster drew his sword and charged across the field. It was poised to take Yugioh's monster down but then flipped a trap card face up.  
  
"Mirror Force!" Yugioh shouted and instead of attacking the Mystical Elf, Freed the Brave Wanderer attacked a mirror image of himself. Both were destroyed, leaving Yugioh's Mystical Elf alive and well on the field.  
  
"Blast it!" Cried Zonif from the sidelines. "He's going to loose this turn for sure."  
  
"I draw." Said Yugioh and "I play Jar of Greed. Now I draw two more cards and this one is just the one I need. I play Premature Burial and summon back to the field my ultimate monster, Slifer the Sky Dragon!" Slifer appeared again  
  
"I have no monsters to defend myself with." Said Zealifo. "End this quickly." He pleaded, gasping for air. He was loosing his strength with each passing minute. Yugioh too, for now he was using all his combined mental strength to conger Slifer back to the field.  
  
"I… attack…Slifer, go" He managed. Slifer flew up and over them, then with both his mouths wide open, he roared a great and terrible burst of power. The energy from Slifer's roar knocked Zealifo backwards onto the ground and destroyed the last of his life points." Slowly the shadows began to dissipate and everything returned to normal. "It is finished." Yugioh said then he too collapsed. As Yugioh's friends gathered around him to see if he was alright, the Zorg Council gathered around Zealifo who was also fading from his participation in the shadow game they had just played. Death was upon him and as he lay prostrate on the ground, they wept for him, and indeed all of Zorg was weeping for their fallen leader at that moment as the monitors all around the planet closed in on the arena.  
  
"Yugi." Mokuba begged, "Wake up." And across the field, also, Zealifo's friends pleaded with him not to leave them.  
  
"Fear not my friends." Said he, "I go to a better place than this one. I am not dead, I am simply not here with you any longer. I have fought a good fight and have done my best to keep our honor alive. Zonif, it's up to you now to be the protector of this planet, and to be the voice of caution in the Council."  
  
"I will." Zonif said with tears streaming down his face. "Goodbye my friend." So they all said and then Zealifo's body disappeared, as it was only a creation of his mind to begin with, and the light that was Zealifo rose up into the sky and burst into a brighter light than could be described. It was magnificent and terrible all at once. Then Zealifo faded into a star which shown brightly above the planet as if always to watch over it.  
  
------------Epilogue-------------  
  
"Yugi." Said Zelif as he walked with Yugioh down the corridors of the Pegasus. "Somehow this has all gone wrong."  
  
"Yes." Replied Yugioh. He'd been in the sickbay since the duel and he was quite tired.  
  
"We have honored our word to repair and refuel your ships. There is a planet not far from here, maybe another week away at light speed. It was once very pleasant place to live until it became overgrown and the people became outnumbered by the other creatures who lived there. If you wish that world is yours. There is not left there but empty dwellings and lush forests. I warn you though it is dangerous." Zelif told him.  
  
"I understand. We will not have an easy time claiming it for our own but we will do our best. Tell me though, what animals could live there that would threaten us?" Yugi asked as he came onto the bridge.  
  
"Only great insects which live off of the abundant plant life there. All the flesh eating creatures died out soon after the planet's original populace did." Zelif told him.  
  
"I see." Replied Yugioh. Pegasus looked curiously at Zelif and then got up from his chair to say goodbye to him.  
  
"I thank you for all your help. I hope that the loss of your friend, Zeanifo is not too much of a burden for you. You don't know how sorry I am that Kiaba did this."  
  
"There is nothing to be sad about. We of the Zorg council are immortal. Zeanifo has not died, but gone on to be with the rest of our kind in the stars above us. I will go there someday and so shall there be none of my race left in this plane of existence. That is the way of things." He and Yugioh and Pegasus all shook hands and then Tea came to stand beside Yugioh as he became simple little Yugi Mouto again.  
  
"Goodbye." Zelif turned into an orb of light again and then transported himself through the walls of the ship and back down to the planet where the rest of the Zorg Council and the people they governed were waiting for him. The Zorg Military gave Pegasus and Kaiba's fleets a send off with escort out of the solar system and everything. It was a solemn time for some of them. They still grieved for the death of a good being such as Zeanifo and they would grieve more and more for the hardships that would later befall them as they journey through the stars to another world. 


End file.
